It’s one thing to talk about gravitational tsunamis on a global level. It’s another to watch them in your own life. My own tsunami coincided with coloring my hair ox-blood and turquoise, having a past-life-regression that is still knocking the socks off of me (and a secondary set of memories that add to the story of that regression), and 2 weeks before the election going airborne in my car at about 45MPH and stunning my spinal column when the car hit earth again. I was still dealing with intense back spasms on election nite. To me, all these things turned my world upside down–the election was, for me, just one more literally unbelievable thing.
I’ve been debating for a while whether to share this past-life memory publicly. I’m still not sure of the answer. I’ve had literally dozens of past-life memories of much depth and complexity over my life, without the aid of hypnotherapy. I don’t think I could have accessed this level of memory without the skill of hypnotherapist Lynne Benton, who studied with the late Delores Cannon.
Apparently, historically (but what the h*ll do I know what’s true anymore) there is evidence that the Essene Masters, aware that there would be a teacher for the new age–the Piscean age–were hedging their bets by selecting a handful of boys for a century or so before The Christ, and training them with esoteric knowledge they considered basic.
It seems that I was one of those boys (or my multi-dimensional-self participates in that role). What was interesting is how my personality didn’t fit the role in many ways–nor did it fit me in this life. It seemed like my body-form had an immense ability to handle physical energy–and when they took me I was furious. I wanted to spend all my days running in the hills just for the pounding joy of the run. They confined me in small spaces where my body literally ached to run. They didn’t explain anything to me–they made me copy symbols thousands and thousands of times over days, months, years. As a man I realized that copying those symbols prepared my body and injected me with great pools of energy that were “like food and water” for the people who came to see me.
I didn’t have a spiritual or intellectual mind–nor even a verbally articulate mind. I carried energy and knew this is what the people needed. Later I wept rivers of tears when I realized that I’d created a political situation that generated hate between the authorities and the people. I had hoped to bring good to anyone who wanted to receive it and had no idea that a new hate would follow me. If you are interested in this session, I have transcribed the session and will share privately. Just email me here and ask for the transcript.

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=41832016-12-09T01:06:33Z2016-12-09T01:06:33Z Thanks to Neil deGrasse Tyson for this story. Here’s the short version, with my comments. …. TWO BILLION years ago, two black holes collided. This collision put out enough energy to light ALL the stars in the universe at that time, and sent out a gravitational wave traveling at the speed of light throughout the entire universe. At this time earth existed, as part of our solar system, and life had evolved to the point of microbes. Fast forward to fish, amphibians, dinosaurs, life extinction events, mammals, primates, homo-sapiens… Einstein… In 1915 Einstein published the special theory of relativity. In 1916 he posited the creation of laser tools that concentrated light energy for use by cosmic researchers. In 1916 he also added a gravitational addendum to the relativity theory positing that Two Billion Years ago two black holes collided, sending out gravitational waves that would travel throughout the entire universe at the speed of light. As the wave passes through objects in the universe it shrinks and then expands them physically. This is measurable: the wave hitting the earth contracts and expands earth by the diameter of a single atom. At a time when we can measure NO effects from astrological planets and fixed stars, this is a startlingly large measurement. We could call this a TSUNAMI gravitational wave. In 2016 astrophysicists utilized a laser-light tool, that measured, in 2016, this gravitational wave hitting earth in the spring of 2016. Yes, 2016: the year of Brexit, Trump, the CUBS winning the World Series, etc. What else happens in a Tsunami? stuff is dredged up from the depths of the under-realms and is dragged across everything in its path. And it keeps rolling. This creates changes of unprecedented nature. It tears down everything in its path, creating space for new waves of development, growth, innovation.
Many people on both sides of the political landscape recognize that ‘the system is broken’. News has become news-porn—fake stories showing up as real in places where that has never happened before, sucking concerned readers into spending their time and energy following ShockNewsPorn. Reliable sources suddenly repeating rumors (even Wash. Post headlining “Trump sold all stock market shares last June”) without research, evidence, and apparently without responsibility. Thank you to Pope Francis for saying following this stuff is coprophagia (literally “shit-eating”!).

We are in a period of change. Gravity waves aren’t singular. Like a pebble tossed in a pond, the impact sets out a series of waves. It’s taken most of 2,000,000,000 years for the first measurable one to reach us. There will be more waves, and each time we will dredge up more of the downside to replace the upside, and then churn it back around again. The dredges of the depths don’t live long in the light. There will be more change. Get used to it.
We are here now to midwife the changes to a new earth. We are here now for a reason. Avoiding coprophagia and panic, and spiritually connecting the golden net of support between all living beings is part of our work at this time. We have much greater inner support than we ever suspected.

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=41812016-12-09T00:59:39Z2016-12-09T00:59:39Z What just happened?! Short news: for the past 18 months I’ve been saying the election of 2016 astrologically DEMANDS an out-of-the-box/outsider-type candidate. Status quo had no chance of winning. Then, watching Marc Boney’s analysis of Donald Trump’s vedic chart I could see the spectacularly winning nature of election day for Donald Trump. IMO, this wasn’t just an “inner” victory–it was a globally visible victory. Then I managed to convince myself that this wasn’t possible and spent months wondering HOW this winning chart could give him something other than the presidency. (The other part of the conundrum is that a week after the election Trump goes through a “maraka” period: “death or death-like suffering” lasting for months, and that Inauguration Day is a ‘non-starter’ that offers him NO additional stature or benefit–or even attention. Haven’t figured that out yet either.)

We’ve got national political astrology acting here, international astrological trends AND universal energy patterns. Nationally, this is the first election in US History where transiting Pluto has been opposing the Sibley US Chart’s Sun: death/rebirth of our national identity. And this isn’t the only Pluto event happening now. Pluto checks people, countries, etc to see when we’re so deep into a rut that it’s becoming a grave, then tries to get us out of the ruts. Most people facing Pluto transiting Sun will try to avoid change for as long as they can. The longer they avoid it, the more dramatically Pluto will force the change. Groups of people do NOT respond at levels higher than the group average.

In addition to Pluto/Sun, we are also building to the first Pluto Return (248-year cycle) of the Declaration of Independence. Historically this means we are actively in the buildup period to the second American Revolution. In literal terms this will take place in 2022-2024. In practical terms we won’t see the new beginning til closer to 2030.
Pluto demands change. We’ve had opportunities to change the way things work in the US. We’ve had opportunities to decide whether the oligarchy makes the rules or the people make the rules. We have repeatedly decided in favor of the oligarchy (Citizens United, Sanders losing the democratic primary among other choices). It seems to me we are doing everything we can to topple the old system. Apparently the only way left is to watch all the old rules collapse under vast realms of idiocy to see if anything can be rescued from the falling residue.

World-wide, we are still very much in the period of the Pluto/Uranus square and Saturn/Neptune square global cycles. Pluto/Uranus is revolutionary change overthrowing the old system. Saturn/Neptune is illusion and reality in a boxing match of their own. We are seeing these effects play out all over the world at this time–and yes, we are still waiting for more “shoes” to drop.

Astrological energy isn’t something science can yet detect. Other than the obvious gravitational effects of the Sun and Moon, no other planetary or stellar effects are discernable by current measurements… But BIGGER energies are measurable, and they happened in 2016……

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=41552016-08-12T20:09:33Z2016-08-12T20:09:33ZAstrological Conditions—The biggest factor in the astrology of Now is the Saturn/Neptune square, with some extra punctuations. Saturn is the Status Quo. Neptune is the idealizer and the dissolver. So on the one hand we have a energy that strives to dissolve the status quo entirely, and on the other energies that idealize the status quo. The extra punctuation comes at the tail end of August. MARS, the actor, anger, aggression. After a long retrograde and an equally long shadow period period this year, Mars finally passes its shadow on August 22. Late that day and on the 23th and 24th it will be at the very same degree of Saturn. This is a recipe for frustration. Saturn means STOP and Mars means GO. Saturn is Authority, and Mars is Anger. We’ll probably see correlated world events around this time.

Oh yes—we do have 3 eclipses coming up soon: 8/18 a Lunar Eclipse at 25 Aquarius. It rattles around several other transiting planets in the mid 20-degrees so if you have chart-points at this degree this will impact your emotional stability. 9/9 a Solar Eclipse at 17 Sagittarius. Mars is close to this degree by transit. If you have chart points at this degree be prepared to allow an ‘eclipse’ of that issue in your life. 9/23 another Lunar Eclipse, this at 0 Cancer. This is a ‘world point’ and will bring world events. Hunger or flooding come to mind.

Please remember that of all the terrible news stories we hear, almost NONE of them will be in your neighborhood or the homes of your families. This is an awfully hot summer—so please do your best to keep cool and calm!

]]>1adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=41092016-05-01T00:56:07Z2016-05-01T00:56:07ZI’m glad the dentist wrote down my words. I found the note and realize I’d quoted it incorrectly, and it DOES make a difference.

Love KEEPS the balance on everything.

(I wrote that it Puts the balance on everything–which suggests that without love there isn’t balance. The truth is bigger than that–all IS balanced, and Love KEEPS it that way. Pretty cool, isn’t it!

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=41052016-04-27T21:47:33Z2016-04-27T21:23:05ZI’m not gonna say how MANY years it’s been since I’d seen a dentist. Finally did though, and was pleased to have NO cavities, but I did need an old one replaced and some “deep cleaning” done. Now, I’m completely terrified of dentistry, so the only way I can get through it is bring my music and earplugs and ask for gas, the hope being is that I can lose myself in the music. Once in a while more happens.

This was one of those times. I’m beginning to realize that much of what I experienced simply can’t be shared–it was beyond linear mind. Lots was happening at the same time, and all of it was connected. Two concepts downloaded strongly enough that I can apply language to them, and one affected the way I interact with the world outside me–so I’m sharing these with you:

1. Consciousness is everywhere, and is exquisite in every form. I used to think that there were levels of consciousness–as in, people had more or ‘better’ consciousness and animals somewhat less and plants have just a little bit. What I was seeing is that EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE is conscious, and that level of consciousness is absolutely exquisite. A rock receiving drops of water is exquisitely (and obviously non-verbally, non emotionally–in human terms) conscious of the soaking water shifting its essence. Sand is exquisitely conscious of our footsteps. The difference isn’t how conscious they are, but what they are conscious OF–and whatever they are conscious of, it seems (and in fact IS) infinite. Linking the universe is the one thing that everything in the universe is conscious of: Loving Goodwill.
As we interact with nature, the world outside ourselves and other people, we can affect their experience profoundly by treating everything with personal, loving goodwill. When I kick the rock off the sidewalk so folks don’t turn their ankle, I do it with goodwill for all. The consciousness of the rock matches that loving goodwill and the unexpected movement is a move toward good. I interrupted the dentist at this point and asked her to write down “Rocks, earthquakes and Love.”

2. The next words I asked her to write down were “Love puts the balance on everything.” I was noticing I would move my mouth and then notice she was saying something to me, and THEN I realized she was asking me to move my mouth. I couldn’t hear her over the music, but my body responded as if I did even before I was aware of her communication. I watched this happen for a while and then realized two things–1. that since we were both people of kindness and goodwill the communication was automatic. My attempt to make the process easier for her AND me made me physically receptive to her requests and 2. I could stop worrying about what she was saying because my body was handling that for me. (WOW–I could just pay attention to my ‘trip’ and trust my body to take care of itself!). The concept of loving goodwill also means that we must treat ourselves with loving goodwill, and when something feels wrong in our body we must adjust in a way that allows us to blend non-confrontationally with All-That-Is. (Hmm… so we’re to fight Illness with love–not destructiveness!)

3. … and then, over the past few days, I realized something else: This newly recognized ability to trust my body even when I had no words to hear or other info, and realizing my body was doing exactly what the dentist wanted me to do makes me realize how often my body is sending me messages I ignore because my brain has another idea. I have started responding to my body as a loving carrier of messages. When I feel “icky” about something I am responding to the “ickiness” instead of some idea that I “should” follow through on it. It seems to be making my life run more smoothly. Very interesting :-).

]]>2adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=40442016-01-05T21:08:27Z2016-01-05T21:08:27ZYes, the interview is with me. The interviewer is Jeremy Vaeni who hosts The Experience podcast through Whitley Streiber’s brilliant website www.UnknownCountry.com. Jeremy had asked if any listeners had unusual experiences with Time… so I responded. The result is this interview, which deals with past lives, dimensionality, the One-ness that is hidden by our idea of time… not my usual topics, but I hope you’ll find it interesting.

It’s that time again–happens three times a year, for three weeks each time, so yes, we do get used to it after a while.THIS Mercury Retrograde has some special features though. First of all, it’s in its own sign, Gemini. That means Mercury things get more screwed up that usual. Merchandise, communication, thinking, transportation are at the top of this list. Neptune is providing the first big zinger. It’s in early Pisces, and Pisces squares Gemini. AND Mercury will cross the exact degree of Neptune during the Retrograde. Neptune is NOT of the bricks and mortar world. It can bring great insight or big lies… or just confusion, so don’t buy everything you hear. This combo is notorious for forgetfulness or misinterpreting things, so double-check important details. One MORE thing–the day after Mercury stations direct, Neptune stations retrograde, prolonging the confusions.
If that’s not enough, the Full Moon of June 2nd is also squaring Mercury and Neptune from early Sagittarius. At least the New Moon of June 16 is very LATE Gemini–so it isn’t muddying the water beyond recognition.
I don’t think we’ve seen the ends of floods though. Keep buckets under any leaks and sniff for gas leaks, too. These are Neptune’s doings.

This is one of astrology’s really BIG questions, and the truth is, no one has offered an answer that makes sense. At the root of the problem is the distance between western science and ancient “knowing”. Science was hailed as an advance over “knowing” because it offered replicable proofs of concepts, but its weakness is that it only values proofs that can be quantified or held in the hand. One of the results is that science seems to have forgotten that things can exist that they haven’t yet figured out. And astrology is one of those things.

In some ways, astrology is like other means of divination, Tarot, dowsing, omenology, psychic abilities and other forms of reading Truth from the world around us. The confusing difference is that astrologers aren’t necessarily psychic at all, and spend lots of time mathematically calculating charts with lots of emphasis spent on things like accurate birth times. So while astrology seeks to see within and without, it’s neither psychic nor science.
But there is a profound truth that connects all forms of “knowingness.” In fact, this truth connects EVERYthing, and this truth is that ALL IS CONNECTED. This is what the word “holism” is ultimately about–and notice the relationship of the word “holism” to “holy.” Truly, All is One, and furthermore, we really CAN see the whole in any of the parts. Physicist Nassim Haramein recently was awarded Best Paper in the International Physics Conference for proving this mathematically. His thesis is that the world is indeed like a hologram, and each fragment of a hologram–or our universe–contains all the information of the whole.
How does this relate to divination? If All is indeed One, and we are all as connected as a Haramein says, close observation of anything in our universe can answer questions about the whole. Tarot can, dowsing can, birds on a wire can, an unmediated mind that is connected to the ALL without personal prejudice can. All these are connected to All That Is and are therefore directly connected to everything that is happening. Obviously, it takes some skill to read this kind of information, but it is available to anyone.
But astrology offers us two huge advantages in this effort to know everything. One is that it has been in use for a long time, with systems that require much knowledge but not necessarily psychic abilities. So one can learn to do this, while psychic abilities are sometimes less easy to learn. The other advantage for astrology is even bigger.
In other divination systems, the patterns of the NOW can tell us about the Now. Anything happening in the NOW reflects on everything else in the NOW. On the other hand, the Sun, Moon and planets have been in our sky for billions of years and will be for the unforeseen future. At each moment, they are part of All That Is, and reflect elements of time. And because of long millenia of observation and the development of ephemerides (tables showing the position of planets on any day in the past, present, or future) we have a view of “now” that can be seen for any time. With skill, an astrologer can see outlines of patterns that existed in the past or that will exist in the future.
Furthermore, becoming aware of All That Is, reflected in the positions of the planets of the past, present, and future, seems to aid astrologers in their ability to psychically blend into the patterns they see. I believe it’s a slight lifting of the veils that keep us thinking we live alone, isolated in a material world without connection or ensoulment. In fact, we are all part of the Soul of All That Is.
Old spiritual tales tell us that God, in her infinity, recognized her aloneness and wanted others to learn from and to share in the majesty of creation. So she sent out droplets of her soul into the universe that became human beings, animals, plants, rivers, mountains, planets, solar systems… and each of these souls has experiences that enlarge God’s knowledge of creation. We all have a part in this, and we are all a participant in this. By seeing our holism, our holy connection to everything, our view expands.
To me, the tools of astrology have taught me that I am a part of ALL, and that all my clients are expressions of God. It has taught me to better read the conditions of the holy holism that I live in. And astrology has taught me to see that whatever the temporary conditions of the “now”, the conditions of the whole are no less than the soul of God, and therefore loving, kind, and good.

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=39442015-03-23T22:16:53Z2015-03-23T21:04:48ZA friend called me this morning, looking for how to answer a friend’s question that “western astrology can’t work because of the precession of the equinoxes”. I got the giggles.

[The rest of this is in three sections. Part 1 is the technical stuff. Part 2 is the MEANING, which is (always) more important to me. Part 3 is the “how I’m dealing with it” part.]

Part 1 Yes, the difference between western (tropical) astrology and Indian (sidereal) astrology is that sidereal astrology is completely based on the positions of the stars. And tropical astrology isn’t. But tropical astrology is completely based on the positions of the equinoxes and solstices. So every spring equinox (when you can balance a raw egg on its point!) will always be Zero Aries in tropical astrology. Both of these systems are based on something physical, which has some kind of meaning to the mechanically minded, though the mechanically minded will not see how the physical leads to non-physical kinds of meaning. If we look again at the two systems, tropical and sidereal, we see that the sidereal system also lacks sky-map precision.

Astrology uses 12 constellations to create the 12 astrological signs. Each “sign” is 30 degrees of arc. But the constellations are NOT all 30 degrees of arc! Pisces is HUGE and overlaps with Aquarius a lot–which is why we are, IMO, right now, at the very end of the age of Pisces AND at the beginning of the age of Aquarius. Aries is a tiny little squirt. It happened before Pisces and Pisces overlapped part of Aries, too. So in neither system is astrology an exact sky-map representation of the sky. All the constellations are different sizes and shapes, and both systems of astrology simply say each sign is 30 degrees. Somehow this works. Not even astrologers can tell you why — if you’re asking from the physical level of reality.

Part 2 The reason it works…. Have you ever tried to discuss the esoteric meaning of your dreams with a surgeon? (My apologies to surgeons–I actually know one with whom that would be a natural discussion, but you get my drift here, I think.) Surgeons deal with the most physical parts of the physical world. Dreams come from somewhere else. The problem is that most people’s thinking has NOT caught up with science, which says that Physical Matter is only FIVE PERCENT of the universe. Many advanced physicists (and meditators, and others) say that each of us is a fragment of SOURCE, which is an unbreakable singularity. When something is entirely single, ALL OF EVERYTHING is a part of it. So SOURCE, of which we are a fragment, contains ALL of EACH of us, including the 95% that is NOT physical. In SOURCE, we are not separated from each other, we are not separated from the stars, we are not separated from ALL of GOD Itself.

It seems to me that astrology, which reaches way beyond the physical understanding of our own physical world–our own bones and sinews, our own plot of dirt on the ground–is a way of expanding our understanding of SELF (and physical world) that stretches us beyond our limited physical senses.

Funny thing here–we sometimes talk about “defining moments” or “defining experiences” in our lives. THE defining moment–the one with the greatest importance and defining power of all, is our birth into the physical world. So it makes all the sense in the physical world, as we reach for meaning beyond the physical, to use the omens and meanings of that moment to understand our Being in this physical world.

Part 3 So now I’m living in a world in which I know my physical body is only a tiny fragment of my larger self. I’m trying to reach out to my non-physical SOURCE self for an understanding of what’s going on in my life–cause things ARE going on. My birthchart is being powerfully impacted by Saturn, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto. And all of these planets can be associated with Death. (Pluto, almost always makes us aware of death issues, but almost never does Pluto actually kill a person–though it may make you WISH it would! Pluto tends to kill identity, which feels like dying anyway.)

In the past 2+ months I’ve had email problems (server LOST days of email without ever sending them to me!), computer problems (my old one died and the new one took 2 months of tech support to work correctly) and recently I discovered my phone was telling everyone I wasn’t accepting calls (that’s fixed now, so please call). All of these things have tremendously affected my business–which is 100% astrological counseling. If people can’t reach me by phone or email, how on earth am I to counsel them?? So I’ve been experiencing a sense of death, closure, ending. I am VERY invested in astrological counseling. I love what I do. And from the present aspects to my chart and the results, it’s entirely possible that I love it too much. It has become my identity.

So I am in the odd position of trying to invite in the 95% of myself that does NOT exist on the physical to help me identify ways to exist in the physical world. Really an oddball balance. It’s really very hard to balance oneself physically while opening to something else entirely. But as a wise woman recently pointed out to me, not only is all the physical world really just vibration–energy, not matter, but a very slow vibration that appears solid to us… not only is that true, but the non-physical part is what creates the vibratory rates. And as we reach out to access the SOURCE-MIND, of which our own minds are a part, we can allow the creative to bring anything we want into this world.

I’ve never been into “The Secret”-like collages of wishes and dreams because I always suspect that my wishes and dreams are created by my limited 5% imagination. I am open to BIG energy shifts, of whatever GOOD type. (And all is good, but still I prefer that it feel good to me, and my astrological experience tells me that not resisting change is the best guarantee of good results.)

So I am opening my arms wide–welcoming all my beloved clients and knowing that even more wonder and joy is available if I don’t try to define it before knowing what’s available. A big YES to everything.

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=39412015-03-15T20:59:00Z2015-03-15T20:59:00ZThis month is hitting a lot of triggers for people. First–thanks to those of you who sent the NASA newsletter about a big Solar Flare hitting us the 11th-12th and knocking out a few global computer systems. Just inconvenience, but a direct predictive hit.

Some folks were freaked about the earth-related predictions I made. I wasn’t freaked when I wrote that–earthquakes happen all over the world all the time, as do volcanoes and other events–even huge fires. And BIG ones happen fairly regularly. I didn’t intend to suggest that the event would be so big the whole globe would experience it, but I think we’ve still got something coming that we’ll all be aware of and, therefore, feeling.

The BIG theme for this month is the feeling of death. Whenever feelings of death start overwhelming people, they tend to become frightened, and tend to want to shut down those feelings. But we’re dealing with Pluto here. Pluto is about symbolic death and rebirth, and if we resist Pluto’s “death” we are resisting the rebirth, and that’s when Pluto moves from symbolism to real things. It’s VERY important to acknowledge the feeling of death. Pluto demands that some part of our identity die. It’s saying something we identify with very strongly is actually holding us back, but to let that go we have to drop some part of our personal sense of self, too–and that’s the thing that’s hard to do.

Another thing that can make letting go of what’s ready to go more difficult is we don’t always know what’s going to replace it. We don’t know what’s coming. Sometimes, in fact, we don’t know for sure what it is we are being asked to release.

The only process I’ve found to work for this goes as follows:

1. Allow feelings of death and/or loss to overwhelm you for a while–a few minute maybe, or an hour. Whenever they come up, allow them to move through you, watching the feelings, looking for clues, and telling yourself that this is OK, it’s part of processing deep change. (It is NOT about aging, or your own imminent death or the death of loved ones unless this is an obvious ongoing part of your life at this time.)

2. Use a mental mantra or prayer that goes something like this: “I am willing to let go of whatever must be released. I surrender my will to a higher will to guide me through this shift. I open myself to new delights to replace old patterns.”

And repeat. Shampoo, rinse, repeat. That’s it!

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=39262015-03-11T00:34:16Z2015-03-11T00:30:45ZPersonal Responses to March Astrology

This has been a month presaging huge changes for me. As I rolled around in the emotions of these as-yet-unknown changes, I caught a vision of myself in a golden tunic holding a light that was blindingly bright–and which seemed to come from within my chest. Hmm. There’s definitely some astrology behind this:First, my natal Mars is at 15 Cancer. This means that Uranus, Mars, and Pluto at 15 Aries and Capricorn are absolutely challenging my Mars. What does this mean? Well, in whole sign houses (and my Indian chart) Mars rules my 10th house–career. It lives in my Koch 5th house (creativity? romance?) and Aries is solidly contained in my Pisces 2nd house–money. In whole signs it rules the 3rd house–siblings. Uranus turns things upside down–usually quite suddenly. Pluto challenges how my ego lives with my life. So those issues have been restless which makes them very uncomfortable. In the meantime, Pluto in Cap is quincunxing my 6th house (work, health) Pluto in Leo–almost exactly.
The February Merc Rx broke my computer and my multiply-handicapped brother broke his shoulder in an icy fall, requiring surgery during the Retrograde. I ended up in Indianapolis for the coldest week of the year, all of which made it hard for clients to reach me. He needed the help, and all ended up OK there. THIS month, my wonderful sister will be here for a week from New York. I AM looking forward to that.
Pluto DOES threaten one’s identity, but that’s not the only thing going on. Saturn is my chart ruler, and my natal Saturn is being exactly opposed by Neptune right now–the classic “WHO AM I” question. Neptune is also opposing my Mercury, meaning intuition is working better than nuts-and-bolts language at the moment. [A former client and professional accupuncturist has just moved back into town, and since we’re both low on clients at the moment, we’re exchanging work. He’s a Pisces and his skills perfectly address the Neptune in Pisces opposite Saturn in Virgo story. Jampa Stewart–call me if you need him!]

In addition, Saturn in the Sky is on my Midheaven, approaching a square to my natal Saturn: Get your career in gear is what it’s saying, but Neptune opposite my Saturn is saying “Huh???” The square suggests it isn’t something NORmal that I’m looking for. Perhaps a higher faculty of intuition used in my analytical readings?
So I sat in bed worrying, really feeling the fear, grief, loss, and a sense of emptiness that I couldn’t explain or understand. Then I thought, if there’s an empty space, what can fill it??? And that’s when I caught this vision of myself. Sequins and beads glittering over an intensely golden tunic, worn over a long, white skirt, and my hands met at my center in the center of this blinding light. I thought I was carrying the light, but then realized it was coming from within me. So I mentally reached into my chest cavity and ripped open my ribcage (Uranus/Mars/Pluto) and the light got brighter and brighter and felt profoundly fulfilling. I realized that whatever is changing now, something empty is leaving and something inspiring is coming. I wish I knew the details, but the message from Pluto is always “surrender the ego needs and walk into the light”. So there we have it for the time being. If and when it becomes clearer I’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, I’m VERY open for business!

I don’t usually pay much attention to the EXACT date of slow planet aspects. It’s kinda like saying two semitrucks heading into an intersection won’t have a bad crash unless they are EXACTLY centered on each other. Naaah. It’s still a serious crash, even if they are way off center.
This month is different though. We get Mars, and the Sun and Moon in a lunar eclipse all involved in this last exact aspect, and that makes all the difference. I’m predicting earth events–earthquakes, volcanoes, explosions even, or even an earth-damaging solar flare. Why? Mars, in Vedic astrology, rules land. Mars and Uranus together are always accident/explosion/event related, and this time they’re exactly conjunct, in fire-sign Aries on March 11th–though again, the confluence of all these events within 9 days means that from today forth, March is “all bets are off”.
Mars has NO patience and Uranus is generally pretty hot to trot itself. Now add a square from the power-death-rebirth planet, Pluto, and we’ve got life-and- death changes to land, of an explosive or fiery nature. And on the 20th, a Solar eclipse at 29 Pisces brings the martyr/sacrifice energy in. This is followed by a Lunar Eclipse on April 4th at 14 Libra, which echoes the Mars/Uranus/Pluto square that just (almost) ended. This combo suggests danger to a female world leader, and the Sun’s involvement, also in a fire sign, raises the concern of increasing Solar Flares.
If you’re an ordinary person, this is a month for high caution. Accidents will be ready to happen–so don’t clean the gutters or climb tall trees. Don’t rewire sockets without turning off the power (Uranus rules electricity and technology). If you have planets at 14-16 Cardinal (Aries, Libra, Cancer, Capricorn), you are already feeling the pressure here. I surely am!
The key to survival is releasing resistance. And the next article will outline my own process these last weeks…

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=39202015-03-10T00:47:55Z2015-03-10T00:47:55ZAAAARGH!!!! This has been one of the craziest Mercury Retrograde periods EVER! I’m FINALLY functioning again–computer blew up JUST before the retrograde, forcing me to purchase a new computer the day before, with a stationary Mercury squaring my 6th house Pluto (work issues!) What can you do?? Well, in my case, WAIT would have been the right answer. I ended up finding a great computer tech guy in Austin, which I needed, and who got me out of total disaster, but I still have bunches of weird problems. I hope I can get them solidly fixed.

Then, still RX, my multiply-handicapped brother (autism, blindness, hearing loss) slipped on ice and severely broke his right arm. Bad enough that he needed shoulder surgery, so I ended up in Indiana for what I thought was a a few days but ended up being over a week, because of his onset of a severe gastric distress. ‘Nuf said. It sounds so heroic to do this, but I must confess I was reluctant and grumpy for a while. Not grumpy to Brother tho. Glad to be back home with my sweet pup now, and thanks SO much to Chuck and Karen who cared for him despite CHUCK’s mulltiple shoulder surgeries while I was gone. WHEW!!!

And the computer?? Well, I’m still stumbling into problems almost daily. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=38662014-12-06T20:19:06Z2014-12-06T20:16:57ZOn Sat/Sun, the 29th and 30th, for 18 hours, ALL of my email was lost. After finally learning the loss is permanent, I’ve gotta reach out to my friends and clients and let them know–IF YOU EMAILED ME AND I DIDN’T ANSWER, PLEASE WRITE AGAiN! (it’s anne(at)stariel.com) I’m not ignoring you and will write you back, and I’ve got plenty of extra time for clients this month.

Happy Holidays to All!This is the season leading up to the solstice, when many traditions celebrate the “Coming of the Light”. At the winter solstice, the Sun hangs out at the lowest point on the horizon, making the shortest day of the year actually THREE darkest days of the year before it begins to climb in the sky and the days lengthen, returning the light.

This is a gift-giving season, so I’m offering an Astrological Guide to Gift Selection. Also, you’ll find Part 2 of Vedic Predictive Techniques, and a sale price on Sacred Tapestries.
As my favorite Christian mystic reminds me, this is “advent season”, which is a season of joyfully anticipating the Coming of the Light. May all of us realize joy as we anticipate the turn of the solstice in its many physical and symbolic forms.

Love and Blessings to you,
Anne

Astrologer’s Guide to Gift Selection

The very best way to figure out what gift someone will like is to base it on their Venus sign. Venus represents what we value and what we love.

If you need help determining the Venus sign of friends and relatives, contact me here by email. ) The first 5 request will be free (3 names each. Later requests will be $10 for 3 lookups, which we can handle by credit card, paypal, or the DONATE button on my website in the newsletter.

Here goes:

Venus in Aries This person loves ACTION, so tickets to any adventure will thrill. Rollercoaster rides of any sort, ski trips (or lessons), roller blades, fireplace tools will work, too, or firecrackers for New Years’ Eve. They also like starting things, preferably with power tools, which make great gifts if you’ve got some other way to finish the project., but knowing a Venus sign isn’t a matter of just looking up a birthdate on a calendar. If you need help figuring out a Venus sign, skip to the end of this article for simple ways to find out.

Venus in Taurus is sensual. These folks like to be surrounded by soft fabrics–velvet, cashmere (no itchy wool please). They love rich foods and creamy desserts. Delicately scented candles, soothing essential oils, the very best single malt whiskey or highly rated wine, massages, a full bubble-bath kit, these will all tickle the fancy of Venus in Taurus.Venus in Gemini loves variety, ideas, and social encounters. Encyclopedias of trivia–especially about one of their favorite topics; teaching an older Gemini how to use Facebook; a bunch of mystery novels; a new smart-phone or a music/radio/mp3 device; or a grab-bag of many small and clever items will thrill a Gemini person. You could also throw in a day-trip to a great dinner theatre. (Click here for more.)

CHRISTMAS TAPESTRY SALE!
$1000 off List Price

Ethiopian Madonna and Child

Creating these tapestries has been a long-time avocation for me, though I’m slowing down temporarily. I’ve made sixty so far, using silk, real prong-set gemstones, and freshwater pearls, and have about 35 still available for sale. They have been exhibited in multiple juried venues, including a one-woman show. Click here to see more, and contact me here if you have trouble with flakey web links.

Astrology Tips:
Vedic Astrology Prediction (Part 2)

Continuing this series of tips for timing events in Vedic astrology, this time we’ll focus on a wonderful technique taught by Sri K.N. Rao. Sri Rao is perhaps the greatest Vedic astrologer alive and I’m honored to have attended several of his seminars.
This technique is what Raoji calls “the simultaneous aspects of Saturn and Jupiter”. That is to say, to see when an event will take place, you must first identify what house is associated with that event (e.g. marriage is 7th house), and what Varga (divisional chart) is associated with that event (e.g. marriage is seen in the Navamsa Varga). Let’s use marriage as an example, (though we could use career opportunities–10th house and dasamsa, events related to children (5th house, Saptamsa Varga), sale of a home (4th house, Chatursamsa Varga IMO), etc.
To see when a person might marry, and after checking dasa periods, look at the seventh house in the Rasi and Navamsa, and find the location of the ruler of that house in each chart. Now look at an ephemeris of transitting planets. Find a time when Saturn aspects EITHER the 7th house or the planet ruling the 7th house. Then find a time when Jupiter aspects the 7th house or the 7th ruler. If you find a time when both happen at the same time you’ve pinpointed the date with a relatively high certainty. Do the same in the navamsa, and if the dates overlap you’ve got a pretty sure bet.
If you apply this pattern to the chart using Surya Lagna (sun sign house as ascendant) or Chandra Lagna (moon sign house as ascendant) in both Rasi and Navamsa and tally up how many times you get a repeat of the double transit pattern. Count them up–if the majority show a double-aspect at the same time you’ve got more confirmation. The more confirmation (the higher the majority) the more certainty in this predictive date.
There’s extra wiggle room in this formula when we look at retrograde aspects. We’ll look at this next time.

Newsletter Archives now EASY to find

This is now the sixth year of Stariel Newsletters. ‘Til now, finding back issues was pretty hard. Not anymore. Some website housekeeping has put ALL back issues together, easily available at my main web page,

“Stunningly brilliant book…. a treasure trove of eminently useful…lore…. You don’t even have to be [an astrologer] to experiment with these techniques…. One of the most exciting astrology books I’ve seen in years.”

300 pages of examples, self-assessment tools, detailed activity sheets and index to help you get started immediately. RETAIL: $22.95 ($18.95 with discount)

Audio Mantras

–Now available on my website! and FREE

I’ve recorded and uploaded a series of Mantras to my web site. If you are interested in astrological remedies, you can find planetary mantras at my website under “Astro-Remedies” and then selecting the planet whose mantra you’re seeking. A full page of long mantra links can be found HERE. Words are included.

My most-frequently used mantra is the Mrityunjaya Mantra. You can listen to it, and to any of the others at the link above. Thank you, Ricia Doren, for the Ganapati Mantra audio!

Contact Anne for an in-depth astrological reading, or use the “Catch-Me-If-You-Can” option for quick answers to immediate crises. Clients rave about Anne’s deep insight into their personal lives and the practical ideas for moving forward.
A recent client commented
“I came to you in deep despair and even though nothing external has changed yet, I’m leaving this session with renewed joy and optimism”.

Astrology Tips:
Vedic Astrology Prediction (Part 2)

Continuing this series of tips for timing events in Vedic astrology, this time we’ll focus on a wonderful technique taught by Sri K.N. Rao. Sri Rao is perhaps the greatest Vedic astrologer alive and I’m honored to have attended several of his seminars.
This technique is what Raoji calls “the simultaneous aspects of Saturn and Jupiter”. That is to say, to see when an event will take place, you must first identify what house is associated with that event (e.g. marriage is 7th house), and what Varga (divisional chart) is associated with that event (e.g. marriage is seen in the Navamsa Varga). Let’s use marriage as an example, (though we could use career opportunities–10th house and dasamsa, events related to children (5th house, Saptamsa Varga), sale of a home (4th house, Chatursamsa Varga IMO), etc.
To see when a person might marry, and after checking dasa periods, look at the seventh house in the Rasi and Navamsa, and find the location of the ruler of that house in each chart. Now look at an ephemeris of transitting planets. Find a time when Saturn aspects EITHER the 7th house or the planet ruling the 7th house. Then find a time when Jupiter aspects the 7th house or the 7th ruler. If you find a time when both happen at the same time you’ve pinpointed the date with a relatively high certainty. Do the same in the navamsa, and if the dates overlap you’ve got a pretty sure bet.
If you apply this pattern to the chart using Surya Lagna (sun sign house as ascendant) or Chandra Lagna (moon sign house as ascendant) in both Rasi and Navamsa and tally up how many times you get a repeat of the double transit pattern. Count them up–if the majority show a double-aspect at the same time you’ve got more confirmation. The more confirmation (the higher the majority) the more certainty in this predictive date.
There’s extra wiggle room in this formula when we look at retrograde aspects. We’ll look at this next time.

The very best way to figure out what gift someone will like is to base it on their Venus sign. Venus represents what we value and what we love.

If you need help determining the Venus sign of friends and relatives, contact me here by email. The first 5 request will be free (3 names each). Later requests will be $10 for 3 lookups, which we can handle by credit card, paypal, or the DONATE button on my website in the newsletter.

Venus in Aries This person loves ACTION, so tickets to any adventure will thrill. Rollercoaster rides of any sort, ski trips (or lessons), roller blades, fireplace tools will work, too, or firecrackers for New Years’ Eve. They also like starting things, preferably with power tools, which make great gifts if you’ve got some other way to finish the project., but knowing a Venus sign isn’t a matter of just looking up a birthdate on a calendar.

Venus in Taurus is sensual. These folks like to be surrounded by soft fabrics–velvet, cashmere (no itchy wool please). They love rich foods and creamy desserts. Delicately scented candles, soothing essential oils, the very best single malt whiskey or highly rated wine, massages, a full bubble-bath kit, these will all tickle the fancy of Venus in Taurus.Venus in Gemini loves variety, ideas, and social encounters. Encyclopedias of trivia–especially about one of their favorite topics; teaching an older Gemini how to use Facebook; a bunch of mystery novels; a new smart-phone or a music/radio/mp3 device; or a grab-bag of many small and clever items will thrill a Gemini person. You could also throw in a day-trip to a great dinner theatre.Venus in Cancer loves to snuggle. These are sentimental people who will respond to a snuggly couch-blanket, a hot chocolate kit and, if you’re intimate, a “coupon” for a gentle personal massage. Many Cancers like cookbooks, comfy items for the home (a sofa pillow with a sentimental message), and a gathering of the clan.Venus in Leo loves drama–but mainly if they’re the star of it, so contrive to let them show off. They want to be seen with someone dressed to the nines, and a flashy-but-classy item of clothing for them is not out of place. Tickets to the ball of the season, a must-see concert, or a noticeable piece of jewelry, all delivered with heaps of praise will go over well. If you really want to win their heart, ask them to tell a favorite story in front of the crowd.Venus in Virgo loves detail. A collection of interesting boxes, small to large; a grab-bag of clever and varied office supplies (Virgo Venus always loves office supply stores), a library card if they don’t have one, boxes of beautiful note cards, a gift certificate to a bookstore that also sells cards or reading accessories will make Virgo Venus feel loved and appreciated. (Click here for more.)Venus in Libra loves beauty, grace. and harmony. Beautiful silk scarves or neckties; dinner in an elegantly appointed restaurant, tickets to an event in a beautifully designed venue, books on design and style, or on graceful manners. Whatever the gift, wrap it with style. Presentation is everything. A gift certificate should be in an elegant envelope with a bow tied around it (no stick-on bows, please). Whatever you give in a beautiful package will be that much more appreciated. .Venus in Scorpio is sometimes tricky, as they keep their preferences secret. In fact, a book or movie of “secrets”, or material on the occult or conspiracy theories might appeal. They’ll like detective stories, experiences that may be frightening but offer transcendence (scary movies with a redeeming point to make), stories of true experiences of the paranormal or supernatural; transpersonal “depth” psychology. Touch Venus in Scorpios in a deep way, guide them to face and overcome fears, and you’ll have a friend for life.

Venus in Sagittarius loves to spread its wings. Knowledge, philosophy, travel and more travel will crank their engine. Take this Venus to a travel agent and watch love happen. Clever travel devices to make trips easier, short-wave radios, shows that feature foreign culture, tickets to a college public lecture, a behind-the-scenes tour of a TV news outlet will make Venus in Sagittarius’ heart soar. And I almost forgot: If this person has a favorite sports team, tickets will be a sure winner.

Venus in Capricorn wants value and status. Give them a high-status item–a designer-brand watch or fancy writing instrument, scarf, necktie, or accessory. The key is the status-value. For gift-givers on small budgets, a tin of caviar or truffle-flavored spread with a nice bottle of champagne will accomplish the same thing. For a Venus in Capricorn with a fiery sun or moon sign, take them rock-climbing. The Capricorn mountain goat is a CLIMBER, so whether it’s gaining prestige among peers or climbing a mountain, they will feel seen and valued.

Venus in Aquarius loves something DIFFERENT: techie, too. A clever new electronic device, anything quirky and distinctive to wear or display on their desk, home, or yard; any kind of breakthrough technology tool, be it water or air filters or an energetic healing device, even a calendar of Escher prints will tickle this person’s cool button. Rube Goldberg devices are sure to bring out their mischievous smiles.

Venus in Pisces loves sentiment and magic. Their own copy of Robin Williams’ What Dreams May Come, season tickets to their favorite music venue, a set of movie passes all fit one part of this personality. Anything that shows how you and this person SHARE an interest will make Venus in Pisces people feel cherished. Be gentle with this soul–they appreciate friends and lovers more than you realize and it makes them happy to put you on a pedestal, so be your shiny-polished and loving self and they’ll be happiest of all.

Hello friends
Three main stories this time and one correction (added bibliography). First, what’s going on now: aspects and energy systems this fall and winter and what they mean (and links to interesting world-change and time-travel testimony); Second, some technical goodies for the astrologers out there: — tips on predicting with Vedic astrology; Third, adventures in quantum healing; and Fourth, just a special, celebrating my Mom’s 90th birthday in September (including pics of the woman who can STILL run circles around me!)

And here’s wishing you a rich and happy Thanksgiving and peaceful run-up to the series of solstice-related holidays.

Anne

1. Winter–Astroweather and Energies

You may have noticed how totally weird the energies are this fall. October’s powerful eclipses marked a turning point. The Lunar Eclipse was especially powerful, with Uranus (sudden change) and Venus (love, money, values) on the eclipse points and with Uranus in a grand trine (easy energy flow) with Mars (action) and Jupiter (optimism). As a result, many of us shook off a bunch of restrictions and gained a renews confidence that we have what it takes to get through it all.
And that’s a very good thing, because we’re about to experience the most intense part of this Uranus/Pluto cycle. Starting in November, both planets will be at 15 degrees of cardinal signs. This is a VERY important degree, because it is on what Uranian astrologers call “The Aries Point” aka “The WORLD Point”. This means that these disruptive energies will affect the world as a whole, regardless of your own personal chart. The light in the tunnel is the fact that a 15 degree Aries point also participates in trine energies, as well as the dualistic square energies.
When is this most active and what might we expect? Read on…

2. Getting Through This Time Period

Here are two interesting links, definitely of an “out-there” nature, on what we may expect and how to move through the months ahead.Tom Kenyon and the Hathors Tom’s insights have been consistently prescient. Here he talks about this period as “the chaotic nodes and the dismantling of 3-D reality”. I am sensing a shift of exactly this nature, which does not mean I believe we’re about to “ascend” immediately, but that the division between physical and non-physical realms will become more obvious to our senses, as physics suggests anyway. Tom offers us a sound frequency recording that helps us align with the new realities. It’s free.Andrew Basiago, Time Travelor and Presidential Candidate This link takes you to one of many YouTube interviews with Andy. You can find much longer ones, and there are also short excerpts available in the YouTube listings. This Seattle lawyer is one of the most down-to-earth, fact-based, articulate “oddball ideas” person I’ve ever heard. I’m reasonably convinced of the truth of his claims that he and his defense-contractor father participated in DARFA’s early time-travel and teleportation experiments in the early 70’s. starting when Andy was about six. These stories are fascinating in their detail, and in Andy’s efforts to verify the information he learned. According to Andy, 2015 will likely bring to light a CIA/congressional payola scandal of such massive proportions that the American public will throw out candidates of BOTH major parties in the 2016 elections.

3. Astrology Tips: Vedic Astrology
Prediction (part 1)

A few weeks ago, I got a phone call from a friend who is a longtime student of Vedic Astrology. He made an interesting observation which basically outlines the basic practical difference between Vedic and Western astrology. He said he’d been failing miserably during years of trying to predict events in his life, and guessed he was relying too much on the effects of transiting planets. He was right. Here’s my short lecture on the process of quick predicing with Vedic astrology.
First, depend on the dasa system. If you have an accurate birth time, the dasa system, which assigns each portion of your life to the guardianship of a particular planet in your chart, is the first place to go for long and short-term predictions. (click here for more)

4. Norma at 90

HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY, MOM! Sept 9, 2014

I only hope I’m as “with-it” in mind/body/spirit at her age. Or heck, I hope I’m even Here! She can still outrun and often out-think any of us. (She explains that with vertigo she can’t walk slowly or she falls over, but she can run!) She and her husband of 2 years are both hale and happy together. The whole family showed up to celebrate–both sides–hers and his, and there were no less than FIVE parties celebrating the acknowledged “Queen of Meadowood”.

5. Quantum Infinity Energy/Biofeedback Healing App–FREEBIES

I’ve been using this app for myself and others for about four months now, and continue to be impressed (and to hear rave reviews from others) on its effectiveness. If you’re dealing with hard-to-treat health issues or are involved in alternative healing modalities, I urge you to try the 15 day free trial of this app, Quantum Infinity. I can knock out a backache in 20 minutes and have found asthma relief, lethargy relief, and general healing from an unexpected cascade of reactions to supposedly simple standard practices of western medical treatment (appendectomy and blood pressure meds). You can find out more here.

6. Archetypes, Astrology and the Soul of the Cosmos (by Anne B.) (Recording)

OK, bottom line here: If you really “get” archetypes, you can read the mind of the universe. This lecture will trace the path that brought me to this realization, and will offer you practical ways to use these patterns to understand and improve your life.

7. Newsletter Archives now EASY to find

This is now the sixth year of Stariel Newsletters. ‘Til now, finding back issues was pretty hard. Not anymore. Some website housekeeping has put ALL back issues together, easily available at my main web page,

“Stunningly brilliant book…. a treasure trove of eminently useful…lore…. You don’t even have to be [an astrologer] to experiment with these techniques…. One of the most exciting astrology books I’ve seen in years.”

300 pages of examples, self-assessment tools, detailed activity sheets and index to help you get started immediately. RETAIL: $22.95 ($18.95 with discount)

9. Audio Mantras

–Now available on my website! and FREE

I‘ve recorded and uploaded a series of Mantras to my web site. If you are interested in astrological remedies, you can find planetary mantras at my website under “Astro-Remedies” and then selecting the planet whose mantra you’re seeking. A full page of long mantra links can be found HERE. Words are included.

My most-frequently used mantra is the Mrityunjaya Mantra. You can listen to it, and to any of the others at the link above. Thank you, Ricia Doren, for the Ganapati Mantra audio!

Contact Anne for an in-depth astrological reading, or use the “Catch-Me-If-You-Can” option for quick answers to immediate crises. Clients rave about Anne’s deep insight into their personal lives and the practical ideas for moving forward.
A recent client commented
“I came to you in deep despair and even though nothing external has changed yet, I’m leaving this session with renewed joy and optimism“.

90th BIRTHDAY,

MOM!

Sept 9, 2014

I only hope I’m as “with-it” in mind/body/spirit at her age. Or heck, I hope I’m even Here! She can still outrun and often out-think any of us. (She explains that with vertigo she can’t walk slowly or she falls over, but she can run!) She and her husband of 2 years are both hale and happy together. The whole family showed up to celebrate–both sides–hers and his, and there were no less than FIVE parties celebrating the acknowledged “Queen of Meadowood”.

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=38362014-11-06T23:49:39Z2014-11-06T23:49:39Z You may have noticed how totally weird the energies are this fall. October’s powerful eclipses marked a turning point. The Lunar Eclipse was especially powerful, with Uranus (sudden change) and Venus (love, money, values) on the eclipse points and with Uranus in a grand trine (easy energy flow) with Mars (action) and Jupiter (optimism). As a result, many of us shook off a bunch of restrictions and gained a renews confidence that we have what it takes to get through it all.
And that’s a very good thing, because we’re about to experience the most intense part of this Uranus/Pluto cycle. Starting in November, both planets will be at 15 degrees of cardinal signs. This is a VERY important degree, because it is on what Uranian astrologers call “The Aries Point” aka “The WORLD Point”. The light in the tunnel is the fact that a 15 degree Aries point also participates in trine energies, as well as the dualistic square energies. This means that these disruptive energies will affect the world as a whole, regardless of your own personal chart.
When is this most active and what might we expect?

Timing:

First of all, when dealing with planets as slow as Uranus and Pluto, there’s no point in splitting hairs. You’ll be seeing dates for the EXACT squares, meaning degrees, minutes, and seconds, but thinking you’ll only be damaged by a steamroller if you’re within a millimeter of it’s center isn’t a very practical way to look at things. Richard Tarnas demonstrates that for world events, a full 15 DEGREE orb is reliable. But for this purpose–for seeing the eye of the hurricane of global change, we’ll work with degrees.

Starting in December, Uranus and Pluto square each other at 12 degrees, creating high intensity, but not yet touching the World Point. On the other hand, this is likely to be one of the more stressful holiday seasons we’ve had for a while.

The last week of February brings both planets to 14 degrees. By March 12 they’ll both be at 15 degrees. This is a time to breathe deeply and remove unnecessary stressful items from your to-do list. Plenty of more important things will come up to replace them. When we think of global events; weather, climate change, volcanoes and earthquakes top the list. A war that involves the resources and humanpower of most of the world isn’t off the table, but isn’t specifically indicated. Global financial crises may show up after an un-noticed December event. Pluto will remain at this degree til mid-June, so tensions stay high, even though events may not be as spectacular as they are in March. Pluto will return to this degree for a few weeks starting 12/31/15, but after a few close calls in January, Uranus will have marched ahead, marking the end of this long crisis period.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the 60s did not resolve the issues faced at that time. Legislation for civil rights, the end of the Vietnam war, didn’t occur for another few years. My personal sense of the timeline ahead suggests that 2018 will be the beginning of the turnaround and we won’t be putting this era behind us til 2024. The 2020 and/or 2024 US presidential election may be of historic importance.

I recall a time when someone told me “astrology can’t work for me because ‘I’ wasn’t born when my body was born. I’m a ‘walk-in'”.
She was telling me that the soul that came with her body left, (in what appears to be a death) and her soul took over the body at that point, so she wasn’t “born” with the body.
I didn’t argue with her. I could see she was invested in her viewpoint and I didn’t need to make a point. But I can now.
Astrology speaks to the conditions of the physical world. When a body is born, that BODY is part of the physical world and is affected by the physical world, including the astrology when the body was born. A so-called ‘walk-in’ must agree to step into the fate of the body they were about to inhabit. The soul must adjust to the conditions of the body.
Swami Rama, an Oxford educated spiritual master, talks about this in his book Living with the Himalayan Masters. Swami Rama lived with cave-dwelling swamis from the age of six until college, honoring a promise made by his parents. He recounts a visit with his teachers after graduating Oxford. There had been a terrible flood, and dead animals and humans were seen in the raging river that they were about to cross. One very elderly teacher said “Excuse me a minute” and jumped into the river. A few minutes later, a young handsome man walked out of the river and picked up the conversation where they’d left off. Swami Rama questioned him–was he still the revered teacher in a different body? The answer was “my old body was pretty worn out and I’ve still got a lot to do.” (Living with the Himalayan Masters by Swami Rama)
Ohm Seti also experienced this, as described in the book The Search for Ohm Seti. Born in England in the late 19th or early 20th century (my memory needs a refresh), she fell down some steep stairs and apparently died at age 4. The family doctor pronounced her dead before she got up again and appeared to be fine. But from that day on, she was obsessed by Egypt, demanding to spend days and days at the Egyptology museums in London and learning the language of heiroglyphs. She was convinced she was the soul of a beloved mistress of Seti, an Egyptian pharoah. Her “memories” of the land, buildings, geography, and customs have been invaluable to archeologists and historians in locating and interpreting excavation sites.
When the physical body of someone we loves dies, we suffer a physical loss. Even while we know the spirit lives on, most of us are unable to communicate with that spirit and NONE of us are able to give and receive hugs and physical comfort with the spirit. The physical loss is great, and always brings questions about what we might find beyond the threshold of death.
SO–I promised you a bibliography, and here it is:

Destiny of Souls by Michael Newton; In this book, psychologist Michael Newton continues to map the picture of the “between lives” period that he began in Journey of Souls. While the first book was more the geography and mapping feature, Destiny shows the decisions we make between lives that help us see the Meaning of our lives, and helps us understand the kinds of decisions we make before we even enter this life. In a similar vein, you might want to read the works of Raymond Moody including his book with Elizabeth Kubler Ross: Life after Life.

Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife by Eban Alexander. In this book Alexander not only recounts the details of his profound experiences during a period in which he was in a coma and virtually braindead from an overwhelming brain infection. He also explores, with the help of other medical specialists, all the scientific and rational explanations that might say his experience was an artifact of his disease or medication. This is a powerful testimony to the power of spirit, written by someone who still lives in the rational scientific world, and manages to explain his knowledge of both to his lucky readers.

The Map of Heaven (second book by Eban Alexander) In some ways even better than the first. He goes through many philosophical traditions and the collected reports of many others who have “been there” to make the case that we are part of a vastness of love that we can only barely begin to imagine.

The Search for Bridey Murphy by Morey Bernstein. This un-put-downable book details the research into the roots of the tale of a young woman who remembers a life hundreds of years ago in Ireland more than she remembers her life today. Originally written in 1956, it’s been reissued many times. A fascinating tale.

The Search for Om Sety by Jonathan Cott and Hanny el Zeini. This is a more recent book and one with more profound impact on the scientific world. This book recounts the life experiences of an Englishwoman who believes herself to be the reincarnation of the true-love of a great Egyptian Pharoah. It’s a paranormal story, a love story (he physically reappears to her frequently and they continue their deep love affair), and a story of archaeology. Om Sety (as she called herself, following the tradition of naming oneself after one’s spouse) understands the physical layout and cultural meaning of many of Egypt’s ancient monuments, and made significant archeological contributions as she explained to archeologists where to find specific temples and the meanings of architectural symbols as they related to practices in the temples and other buildings. Her contributions to Egyptian archeology are considered to be vital and fundamental.

There are many many other books on these topics, but if you’re just now turning in this direction I can’t recommend any more than these.

A few weeks ago, I got a phone call from a friend who is a longtime student of Vedic Astrology. He made an interesting observation which basically outlines the basic practical difference between Vedic and Western astrology. He said he’d been failing miserably during years of trying to predict events in his life, and guessed he was relying too much on the effects of transiting planets. He was right. Here’s my short lecture on the process of quick predicing with Vedic astrology, based on my understanding of the teachings of K.N. Rao.

We’ll do this in stages:

1. Varga aspects repeated in Dasa sequence (today’s lesson).

2. Simultaneous aspects of transiting Rahu and Saturn on the house or house-ruler of the subject in question.

3. Transits of benefics or malefics on the dasa and sub-dasa planets or on the house ruling the subject of the question.

Note that we aren’t even looking at transits in the way a western astrologer looks at transits.

Tip ONE. Examine the dasa and sub-dasa rulers.
First, depend on the dasa system. If you have an accurate birth time, the dasa system, which assigns each portion of your life to the guardianship of a particular planet in your chart, is the first place to go for long and short-term predictions. These time periods are based on the specific position of your moon at birth, and each planet governs a period of time ranging from six to twenty years. Each period is divided into subperiods, and each sub-period is divided into more subperiods.

The most straightforward way to start making a prediction is to look for planets that aspect each other, according to Parasara rules of aspects. At the most simple level, you can look for planets in the same house or the opposite house. Make note of what house those planets are in, and which houses they rule in the birth chart. That will give you some hint of the type of event that will take place. Then look in the lifetime dasa list and find periods that are ruled by the two planets. For example, if you have Mars and Jupiter in the same house, look for a Dasa period of Mars/Jupiter, or Jupiter/Mars. That’s when the event will take place.

Now, look in the Varga, or Divisional charts. If you want to find a change in marital status, look in the Navamsa, or marriage varga/chart. If you want a change in career status, look in the Dasamsa, or career varga/chart. Change in the status of children (or having children, look in the Saptamsa varga. If you have the planetary aspect repeated in the proper varga (divisional chart), that’s the subject area in which this event will take place in life. You can even start your predictive process without finding the aspect in the Rasi/birth chart. Finding the aspect between the Dasa period planets in a divisional chart is very significant.

More information about the nature of the event can be determined by looking at the planets involved, their house placement, their house rulership, any benefic or malefic aspects to those planets, and the nature of friendship/enemy between the planets. Also check the temporal benefic/malefic nature of those planets in the specific birth chart. This will help fine-tune the predition. I’ve conducted classes having students identify significant events in each others lives with this rule alone. Try it out for yourself!

In order to confirm the prediction and narrow down the timing, there are several other steps. Watch my blogs for details for further tips.

]]>4adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=37772014-07-05T00:12:08Z2014-07-05T00:11:25ZNewsletter 41, July 2014
]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=37502014-06-16T02:35:00Z2014-06-15T21:51:56ZHere’s the link to my lecture Astrology, Archetypes and the Soul of the Cosmos, give to the Astrological Society of Austin, March 2014

Archetypes, Astrology and the Soul of the Cosmos

or

Reading the Mind of the Cosmos

Lecture, Astrological Society of Austin, March 2014

Unfortunately, my recorder cut out prematurely. Sharon Werner, of ASA also recorded the lecture, and her recorder also cut out, but at least the thought left dangling in the recording got to its completion.

And I’ll tell you there’s this scientist, Nassim Haramein, and I’ve talked about him before. He has actually done the paper with the math approved by a physics journal. And the paper was considered, it was given the award for the best paper in the, like, 2013, I believe it was, physics conference in Europe. And he did the math proving the concept of the holographic universe, which is basically that the Universe is comparable to a giant hologram. And if you, if you break a holographic plate, each part of it doesn’t have a part of the picture. Each part has the whole picture. It just loses detail. And his paper was basically each one of us IS the Cosmos. Each one of us is the Cosmos. Each one of us contains all of the knowledge in the Universe. And he makes a big point – and it applies very well to archetypes – he makes a big point of saying mostly scientists think of infinity as larger and larger and larger and larger and larger. But infinity goes the other way too: smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. And every time you build that Hadron Collider bigger and you find a smaller thing, you realize there’s something smaller and you’re going to have to build it bigger. It’s infinite. What are they wasting their energy on? There is just an infinity of “smallerness.” And so what you can see in an astrological archetype – Tarnas talks about Jupiter and Saturn in reference to the Shakespeare plays – and he’ll say, okay, King Lear and Hamlet – they have a mood about them. And that mood is dark and ponderous and heavy and with King Lear it’s about age and with Hamlet’s it’s about death and dying, and these are Saturn archetypes. And Jupiter is like Midsummer Night’s Eve, the Merchant of Venice. The comedies are mostly Jupiter plays. They’re expansive, jovial – that’s a nice Jupiter word, the jove word – they’re Jupiter energy systems. And he [Tarnas] said, how are you going to define —-

OK, bottom line here: If you really “get” archetypes, you can read the mind of the universe. This lecture will trace the path that brought me to this realization, and will offer you practical ways to use these patterns to understand and improve your life.

Here’s your chance to participate in a healing workshop at no cost. This type of workshop demonstrates that we are literally and truly all connected and can change your worldview in a single day. If you are the focus of the healing activity it can shift dysfunctional patterns immediately. Here’s my favorite personal story about this kind of work.

If you would like to attend, email me and I’ll give you location details. If you would like to be a focus for the healing work there is one spot available, for $250.

Will Morris is an international leader in the practice and teaching of Oriental Medicine and subtle healing techniques. He’s also an astrologer with over 3 decades’ experience. If you’re interested in learning about astrological assessments of health, this FREE webinar is for you. You can sign up here.

4. Astroweather:

We’re In It Now, Folks!

For astrological details, check out the newsletter archives for the previous issue. Right now, I’m gonna focus on what it feels like. And remind you that all this energy is only HEIGHTENED by the eclipse cycle we’re in this month and this year. BIG BIG stuff. This doesn’t happen every century. Believe me. We’re at the beginning of new-world-creation. OK, that’s the good news. The middle section below is tough stuff, and the end is good news again, so stick around.

The specific energies can be compared to a traffic problem, wherein we’ve got a 4-way intersection with no signage. Barreling toward this intersection are four huge vehicles: two semi- trailers and two giant touring buses. One semi is full of dangerous contraband. Another has potentially explosive high tech stuff. One touring bus is full of professors and students on a field trip. The other carries rock and roll bands.

If you have a planet near 13-14 degrees Cardinal (Aries/Libra, Cancer/Capricorn), you are standing in the center of the intersection. The closer you are to those degrees, the closer you are to the intersection. The rest of us are standing around watching. Tensions are high, and anyone trying to fight these energies will NOT win. YOU try stopping this collision by holding out your hand if you want to. It won’t be pretty.

What can you do? First, if you’re standing nearby, get out of the crash zone. Flying debris can disable even the most detached bystander. If you are experiencing very high tension, anxiety, self-righteous frustration or anger, the seemingly irrepressible urge to FIGHT an unfair situation, BACK OFF NOW. St. Francis’ serenity prayer is the key to this, and the point of the point is in recognizing where you do NOT have the power and cede it to those who do.

This is Not what westerners like to do. We believe we CAN and MUST right every wrong. That’s just flat-out unrealistic. There are higher powers at work, and we must surrender. If that’s not possible, please recognize that you are entering the territory of martyrdom, which is a valid choice, but I’d rather you know you’re making it.

In the world today, just a few examples of who’s standing in the intersection includes the United States (the SUN, our identity and leadership); Vladimir Putin (HIS SUN–identity, leadership and career ruler), the Ukraine republic (her Neptune–ideals) and… Angela Merckel (her Jupiter–beliefs, optimism, and South Node–her comfort zone). I’m sure there are many more players involved.

Furthermore, the series of four TOTAL lunar eclipses over this year and next are hard on “the public” (Solar eclipses tend to remove heads of state or, in modern terms, heads of large international companies. Lunar eclipses cause difficulties for the public at large, or rank-and-file employees.) The lunar eclipse of April 15 is total over the USA.

Historically, these patterns bring great confusion and upheaval at the time, followed several years later by serious reforms. I have been concerned about this cycle because I have two planets, Mars and Neptune, involved in the cardinal cross. What I’ve experienced so far is a series of intense breakthroughs that appear to be dissolving dysfunctional emotional patterns dating to WAY before this lifetime. And a nice financial breakthrough when the hospital ‘forgave’ 93% of a humongous medical bill from an appendectomy last year. Believe me, I’ve been working on this “surrender” thing.

The key to benefits during this time is to allow the egg to crack open. There’s a whole new life inside!

5. Newsletter Archives now EASY to find

This is now the sixth year of Stariel Newsletters, and until now, finding back issues was pretty hard. Not anymore. A bit of website housekeeping now has ALL back issues, easily available at my main web page, www.stariel.com. You can’t miss them. They’re under a main heading called NEWSLETTERS. Remember, subscribing is free (click Join My Mailing List or subscribe at the www.stariel.com home page). You won’t be bombarded. This is ONLY my newsletter list and if you get more than about five a year we’ll all be surprised.

Stunningly brilliant book…. a treasure trove of eminently useful…lore…. You don’t even have to be [an astrologer] to experiment with these techniques…. One of the most exciting astrology books I’ve seen in years.”

300 pages of examples, self-assessment tools, detailed activity sheets and index to help you get started immediately. RETAIL: $22.95 ($18.95 with discount)

7. Audio Mantras

–Now available on my website! and FREE

I’ve recorded and uploaded a series of Mantras to my web site. If you are interested in astrological remedies, you can find planetary mantras at my website under “Astro-Remedies” and then selecting the planet whose mantra you’re seeking. A full page of long mantra links can be found HERE. Words are included.

My most-frequently used mantra is the Mrityunjaya Mantra. You can listen to it, and to any of the others at the link above. Thank you, Ricia Doren, for the Ganapati Mantra audio!

Contact Anne for an in-depth astrological reading, or use the “Catch-Me-If-You-Can” option for quick answers to immediate crises. Clients rave about Anne’s deep insight into their personal lives and the practical ideas for moving forward.
A recent client commented
“I came to you in deep despair and even though nothing external has changed yet, I’m leaving this session with renewed joy and optimism”.

Thanks for being here, and ’til next time… may all life bring you joy!

Sincerely,

Anne Beversdorf

Stariel Astrology

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=37072014-04-15T21:40:29Z2014-04-15T21:39:56ZAstroweather: We’re In It Now, Folks!

For astrological details, check out the newsletter archives for the previous issue. Right now, I’m gonna focus on what it feels like. And remind you that all this energy is only HEIGHTENED by the eclipse cycle we’re in this month and this year. BIG BIG stuff. This doesn’t happen every century. Believe me. We’re at the beginning of new-world-creation. OK, that’s the good news. The middle section below is tough stuff, and the end is good news again, so stick around.

The specific energies can be compared to a traffic problem, wherein we’ve got a 4-way intersection with no signage. Barreling toward this intersection are four huge vehicles: two semi- trailers and two giant touring buses. One semi is full of dangerous contraband. Another has potentially explosive high tech stuff. One touring bus is full of professors and students on a field trip. The other carries rock and roll bands.

If you have a planet near 13-14 degrees Cardinal (Aries/Libra, Cancer/Capricorn), you are standing in the center of the intersection. The closer you are to those degrees, the closer you are to the intersection. The rest of us are standing around watching. Tensions are high, and anyone trying to fight these energies will NOT win. YOU try stopping this collision by holding out your hand if you want to. It won’t be pretty.

What can you do? First, if you’re standing nearby, get out of the crash zone. Flying debris can disable even the most detached bystander. If you are experiencing very high tension, anxiety, self-righteous frustration or anger, the seemingly irrepressible urge to FIGHT an unfair situation, BACK OFF NOW. St. Francis’ serenity prayer is the key to this, and the point of the point is in recognizing where you do NOT have the power and cede it to those who do.

This is Not what westerners like to do. We believe we CAN and MUST right every wrong. That’s just flat-out unrealistic. There are higher powers at work, and we must surrender. If that’s not possible, please recognize that you are entering the territory of martyrdom, which is a valid choice, but I’d rather you know you’re making it.

In the world today, just a few examples of who’s standing in the intersection includes the United States (the SUN, our identity and leadership); Vladimir Putin (HIS SUN–identity, leadership and career ruler), the Ukraine republic (her Neptune–ideals) and… Angela Merckel (her Jupiter–beliefs, optimism, and South Node–her comfort zone). I’m sure there are many more players involved.

Furthermore, the series of four TOTAL lunar eclipses over this year and next are hard on “the public” (Solar eclipses tend to remove heads of state or, in modern terms, heads of large international companies. Lunar eclipses cause difficulties for the public at large, or rank-and-file employees.) The lunar eclipse of April 15 is total over the USA.

Historically, these patterns bring great confusion and upheaval at the time, followed several years later by serious reforms. I have been concerned about this cycle because I have two planets, Mars and Neptune, involved in the cardinal cross. What I’ve experienced so far is a series of intense breakthroughs that appear to be dissolving dysfunctional emotional patterns dating to WAY before this lifetime. And a nice financial breakthrough when the hospital ‘forgave’ 93% of a humongous medical bill from an appendectomy last year. Believe me, I’ve been working on this “surrender” thing.

The key to benefits during this time is to allow the egg to crack open. There’s a whole new life inside!

]]>4adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=37032014-04-13T22:40:48Z2014-04-13T22:40:20ZLecture at the Astrological Society of Austin, March, 2012

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=33472013-08-24T20:41:42Z2013-08-24T20:41:42ZThank you again for your indulgence of my trip down memory lane. This was the memorial lecture for the services for Dr. Rae, the minister I grew up with who, with great compassion, fiercely defended the ethics of honesty, justice, and fairness for all, and who shaped my life. This retrospective was inspired by the convergence of Mom’s handing me these 1968 memorial documents this summer, at a time when the world as a whole, and this country in particular, are again wrestling with the same social justice issues as we did in the summers of the late 1960’s.

Celebration of Life

Dr. Joseph R. Walker, Thursday, July 18 1968

This is a memorial service to Douglas Rae. My great concern is that it shall be a celebration of faith and a cheering remembrance of greatness, not a further descent into sorrow, for our sorrow is deep enough and to spare, God knows.

If I may speak personally for a moment, having stood in this pulpit at other times, I feel strangely cheated as I stand here now, for it was already settled in our family that he was to do this for me. I wanted him to be the one to say whatever would be said at that time, for I knew he would say it with dignity, grace and genuine friendship and without pious cant. But that was not to be, for, as usual, he is ahead of the rest of us.

When I think of what I want to try to say, the thing that comes first to mind is Dietrich Bonheoffer’s now famous declaration that, to be a Christian, a man must first and simply be a man; a genuinely fully human being. Next I remember his description of Jesus as the world’s superlative example and symbol of the Man for Others. This, Bonhoeffer said, is what we must seek to be if we want to be followers of His.

Douglas Rae was a truly great minister of the gospel and an outstanding churchman. He could have gone as high up the ecclesiastical ladder as he wished in his denomination. His standing in his own community is indicated by the peculiarly delicate and important task to which he had been called when he left here.

He believed in the Church. He loved the Church. He understood what the Church is and what it is supposed to be, and he had a patient confidence in it in spite of the gap between those two. But first of all he was a truly genuine, thoroughly human person. He understood what it means to be a human creature and not God. He was content to be such and to be that unique human creature he himself was and not someone else. Being without pious illusions about himself, he was open to his fellow human beings whom he viewed with a quizzical, disillusioned, humorous, usually hopeful, and always generous and tender eye. His foibles, his tensions, his gusts of anger, his reactions to opposition and disappointment, all of these were truly human. I think this was one reason why the barriers between him and the rest of us came down so easily. He accepted himself as he was, and so he accepted us as we are. He did not have to posture and pose, and that made it easier for us not to posture and pose with him. He spoke his mind, he said his piece when it was necessary, with that quick little decisive way of his that made it easier for others to drop the mask and do the same. Also, if he decided he was wrong, he said so with the same unimpassioned candor. It was this willingness just to be himself that gave him the habit of positiveness and decisiveness which made him a natural leader without the arrogance which so often accompanies leadership.

I had a professor in seminary who had some of this same kind of unadorned manliness that draws people to such men. Once, in class, he said this: “Young gentlemen, only the grace of God can make a Christian minister.” But, he added, “The primordial manhood in him will determine what kind of minister he is.”

This was Douglas Rae. He was pre-eminently a man in his own right and in his own way. Just because he wasn’t “hung-up” on himself, because fundamentally he liked being himself and not someone else, he was free to be a man for others. Except for a few strict disciplines that he laid upon himself, he did not have himself on his hands; so his interest was always going out to everything and everybody around him. I do not believe I have ever known a man who, within the limits of human frailty, was more of a man for others than he. He was for people. He was for you. Even if he did not agree with you, he was for you. Individuals of all sorts and kinds and descriptions were interesting to him, and he was for them. Terence’s classic aphorism describes him well. “I am human. I count nothing human foreign to me.”

I would like to say a word about the quality of his mine–its breadth, its range, its vigor–which always fascinated me when I was with him. Three words come to me as I think about this side of him. First, tough-minded. Second, sophisticated. Third, prophetic.

He looked cooly and skeptically on a number of beliefs and ideas which many people like to have their preachers speak about in sweetly pious and pretentiously assured tones. On the other hand, his convictions were usually so rational, so informed, so powerful, that if you disagreed with him you were forced to stand and deliver. He had the knack of striking directly at the intellect and at the conscience of cutting through verbiage to the core.

Then, as I have said, he was interested in everything, literally almost everything. To me, one striking facet of this was his sensitive, artistic imagination. He really felt and understood what our contemporary artists are trying for, and appreciated it. In this he was just way beyond me. One got the feeling that he could have been an artist or an architect of high creative talent if he had set his life that way. But most of all he was interested in everybody, in individuals, in his community, in his society. Whenever I wanted to know about something that was going on underneath the surface in Bloomington, I went to him.

I wonder if we in Bloomington will ever fully grasp the extent of his impact on our town! For thirty-three years we have had a minister of high calibre who was far ahead of his time in his understanding or the problems and crises of our society, those things which are now disturbing the country at large. This is what I mean by saying he had the prophetic mind. Of course, he did not pose as a prophet. He did not sit in an ivory tower and toss out oracles. He did something much more important and effective. When he saw something that he thought was wrong in our town, or something that needed to be done, he simply moved in on it. He began to talk about it. He began to pull strings, and he began to push. He kept on pushing. When the chips didn’t fall his way, he would say, “Well, let’s try again some other way.” His concern for the poor or disadvantaged, for the young, for the old, for the down and out, for racial equality and justice came straight out of the Old Testament and the New Testament prophetic voice. It was a restless flame in him, and he lit fires all over this town.

He also knew the relation of these concerns to politics. One thing he did for us, I think, we cannot measure or trace. Laying aside the partisan aspects of politics and disagreements on particular policies, I am rather confident that he, more than any single man, changed the moral climate in which politics operates in our town. He anticipated by more than thirty years the prophetic spirit which is now stirring and disturbing the church at large and the nation at large. He taught us ahead of time. For thirty years he exhibited to us the preacher-citizen at his sensible best. At first he generated a lot of shock waves in doing so but they have long since subsided. Now the issues which are causing such upheavals in other towns and other churches cause only ripples here. In this he literally dragged us into the future, sometimes kicking and screaming.

But I do not think he could have done half as much for the community if he had been merely a reformer or a prophetic voice. Though the quality of his mind and his impact upon our consciences demanded our respect, it was his constant, quizzical, intensely hopeful concern for individual people that won our affection. He was a good minister and pastor to this congregation and to a lot of other people in this town. Somehow committee meetings and projects seldom seemed to keep him from being on the spot when someone needed him. I wonder how many people there are in this town to whom he has been a pillar of strength in weakness and a strong support in sorrow. He was too much the modern sophisticate to be shocked by any of the sins and follies that people confessed to him. Yet he was too committed in his trust in the goodness of life and the possibilities of life to be overwhelmed by people’s woes or follies. He simply listened, and counseled, and helped, and stood by.

Some years ago I underwent a serious operation. Someone told him about it downtown on the Square. He went to a phone, called his secretary, cancelled his engagements, got into his car, and came to Indianapolis. He was there with y wife until they brought e back, four hours after the expected time. I wonder how many of us here recall such instances as this?

Underneath all of this there was a rugged courage in the man, sustained by simple faith. I think he learned much of this in the hard school of pain. He endured a lot of it off and on through the years. I once stood by his bed in a hospital when he was suffering a great deal. “You’re a tough bird, aren’t you?” I said. “You’re darned right I am,” he wrenched out. And so he was. And good for him!

Intellectually, I think he stripped the Christian faith down to its simple essentials and possibilities in our modern intellectual milieu. Then he just tried to live by it. And that is all I want to say about that.

This is a memorial service to Douglas Rae, a celebration of the past. But one thing I must say and I will say. He was a great humanist, but he was also a truly Christian man, a man of Christian faith. He made the ultimate Christian commitment. It follows that we must make some assessment of the future of a person such as this in the light of the great affirmations of the Christian faith.

Now it is quite true that good is better than bad in its own right, wisdom is better than folly and love is best of all. It is indeed “wiser to be god than bad, better to be sane than fierce.” However, standing alone, such affirmations do not make much ultimate sense out of life, expecially in the light of our remembrance of a life like this. Just to shrug our shoulders at the end of the memorial service and say, “Well, that is all, and that is that!” does not make sense.

The drive of such persons toward human good and their opposition to human evil give the lie to the ultimate pessimism of any such view of the meaning and destiny of human existence. The temporal immortality of good deeds done and of fond remembrances left behind is very real, no matter what. Lives of good men do “remind us we can make our lives sublime. And departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time.” But the waves wash them away, even the biggest tracks, and eventually all tracks.

Ours is primarily an age of repentance, of re-thinking. It is an age of criticizing, examining everything; of stripping away old shams, superstitions, hypocrisies, wishful thinking, self-delusion. Contrariwise, it has not been a great age of faith. Ours will probably be recorded as one of the revolutionary ages just because of this passion for re-thinking. This harsh, cleansing, purifying discipline which we have been called to undergo in our day has led many of us to be fearful lest the ultimate supports of courage and hope and love have been stripped away also, and to suspect that all we can do, really, is to huddle together to impart to each other a little warmth of human affection and mutual concern in the brief span allotted us. Then,we whisper, “The eternal night!”

But now that this stripping of repentance has taken hold and has done much of its work, I believe that the tide of ultimate faith in the goodness of life which has ebbed for a season has now turned. I think many of you will live to be braced and refreshed by this incoming surge. I do not believe that this is the post-Christian era. I think we are just emerging out of the pre-Christian era or, perhaps, the sub-Christian or semi-Christian era. I think some of those who sit here may live to see the first burgeonings of a new Christian era: the rise of a sturdier, more rational and more passionate faith. I think the dismal, chilling creed of materialism is on the way out. Animals are nothing but amazingly intricate machines! Man is nothing but a high-lass animal! I think this is on the way out. There are straws in the wind of modern thought blowing the other way.

Let me tell you of just one. J. Bronowski, in one of his addresses inaugurating a new lecture series on “Nature and Man” for the American Museum of Natural Science, says that the old queston of questions has taken many forms. In ancient times it was the question of the soul; later the relation of the soul and the body; then determinism and free will. Now in these latter days it is called the body-mind puzzle. We are fortunate, he says, that in our time we can ask the question in terms that can be answered. “Can man be both a machine and a self?” Then he gives us the answer, that the human brain is both machine and self in its workings. The human person is not just a machine. He givesus his reasons for saying this so lucidly and so simply that his conclusion is almost unavoidable, not in terms of speculative philosophy but by exploring the simple facts of what we know about ourselves and how our brains work.

Now if this is true, then the Christian affirmation about man’s nature, dignity and destiny becomes viable again. If this is true, then this earth’s human life may be only the beginning, not the end, of the adventure. It does not have to end. If this is true, then someday our sorrows now will be like the dimly remembered sorrows of our childhood n the glad reunions of a different tomorrow. If this is true, the good that good men do here is eternally important because they not only leave it behind to leaven time but they carry it with them into the eternal world.

Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, sought to reassure them about God’s intentions for their future. He did so in the pictorial language of his day, the only language he knew. He thought of heaven peopled with angels and archangels. He thought of God as making his presence and his purpose known in stentorian tones and with awesome trumpet blasts. He hoped to see with his own eyes the return of his Lord, literally, on clouds of glory. All of this picture language has become outmoded for us except as poetry. But through these ancient images and smbols the Eternal Voice still speaks to our condition as truly it did to theirs.

I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that sleep, that you sorrow not as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them that sleep with Jesus will God bring with him. For this I say to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord will not go before them that sleep. For the Lord shall come from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God! The dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.

————-

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=33372013-08-24T06:16:23Z2013-08-24T02:42:26ZThis is the text of Dr. Rae’s last sermon at the First Baptist Church of Bloomington, IN, as reproduced in the booklet of his memorial service in July, 1968. You can find some photographs of the church at http://firstuc.org.

This is a long document, so you may wish to save it or print it to read off-screen. I thank you for your indulgence as I share some of the philosophies which have shaped my views.

Call to Commitment

Dr. W. Douglas Rae, Sunday, May 26, 1968.

A week ago we were in New York City with our Christian Faith and Life senior group of high school young people. We saw a great many things, went a great many places, including Coney Island. The day we went to Coney Island was a drizzly day and a very cold day. Nobody was in the water. There were some men fishing on the pier, but it was a drizzly, damp, cold morning. And we aw a man, and old walrus or a turtle of a man. He must have been sixty years of age, and he had all the signs of the old man. He was short and roly-poly, and came out of the bathhouse barefooted, with a pair of trunks on. He deliberately put one foot ahead of the other, didn’t turn his head right or left, didn’t look back, looked at the sand, walked diagonally across the boardwalk, which was approximately 130 or 150 feet to the stairway, and then started what was probably about a 1000-foot walk across the sand to the water’s edge–absolutely deliberate, no turning–and everybody on the boardwalk and on the pier was looking at this man walking into that ice cold ocean, wondering whether he would do it or not. He kept walking, came to the edge of the water, walked in over his heead, turned around, and walked just as deliberately back up across the sand and into the bathhouse. He didn’t speak to anyone, had nothing to say; but it was the most deliberate piece of acting that I have ever seen. Now, whether he had been doing this all year around or not I don’t know, but at least he did it on this particular cold day.

And this morning I have a feeling that I am that old turtle, and that for the last three months we have been stripping down, throwing away all kinds of things at our house, getting ready for next Sunday, our last Sunday in the church, and I don’t know whether I can do it as deliberately as this old fellow did it. The closer I get to the edge of the water the colder it is, and the more frightened I become, but I am walking as deliberately as I can walk.

The text this morning is from the Sermon on the Mount:

The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew upon the house; and it fell not because it was founded upon a rock.

Now there is no such thing, as I have said to the official family of the church, as an indispensable man, or an indispensable minister. This church, by the grace of God, has survived–I don’t know whether it is 30 or 40 ministers in a 143-year period; and it goes on. Over the last 33 years, many strong, independent individuals have left this church; and the church has gone on. We are now entering another period in the history of the church, and it is a testing period. It’s not simply testing whatever foundation stones we’ve put down in this three-decade period. It is testing the foundation stones of this church for 143 years. It is testing the foundation stones of Christianity itself for almost 2000 years. Whether or not we can survive–strongly–without too many people jumping off the ship, the period which is ahead of us, which may be six months, a year, or two years before we secure a new minister, is the test of the foundation stones of the church and the ministry of this church.

In the New Testament there are two word used for church. One is “koinonia” and the other is “ecclesia.” “Koinonia” suggests, at least most people who translate it think it suggests, fellowship, the fellowship of believers. We are not really clear on what it means, but it points to a unique life, a community existence of men and women who have banded together under one name, with common value systems, with many differences of opinion, differences of personality, who have discovered in their coming together something that they cannot find alone. To use the old illustration, there is some music which you can play on a violin by yourself–solo; and there is some music you cannot understand unless you play as part of an orchestra–a 100-piece orchestra. And so there are some things you cannot understand unless you are a part of a family, and in the Christian community unless you are a part of a Christian community.

We think of individuals, in a one-to-one, person-to-person relationship. Beyond the walls of the church there are things we can do which establish our Christian witness and our Christian convictions. But we have not given up–despite all the prophecies of the death of the church–the need for community and the need for a locus, a place, that we return to to express our Christianity. This community, this “koinonia,” is both local and universal. It is both weak and powerful. It is made up of saints and it is made up of sinners, and it’s this paradox which binds us together and which makes the community of the church strong, that it can contain within its walls both the weak and the strong, perfection and imperfection; and if ever the church becomes absolutely perfect then it is absolutely too small for the spirit of Christ. Because the paradox of the church is that we are sinners, all of us, that we are all caught with the very conditions of human life; we have to accept them. We have to accept our own imperfections ultimately before we can accept the imperfections of others, and we have to accept the imperfections of the church of which we are a part.

It is very easy for ministers these days to slip into the misery school and lament the passing of the church–and it is passing. The attendance figures are dropping; thousands of churches all over the world are empty. It is very easy to talk about embalming the church and condemning it to burial. But the church has a certain genius–as Jesus spoke of it–a leaven in the lump, a certain yeastiness. There have been many periods in the last 2000 years when the church has become insipid, when it is lost its thrust and its power and its strength and its life; but it has risen again, come to life, and this message of hope that the church dies and rises again over the centuries is basic to our gospel. Here in this church we have been preaching not only this hope but we have been preaching and writing a sermon together, and this is the sermon I am talking about this morning. We are not always agreed on it, but in general this is the sermon and the direction; and we’ve put it into wood and into stone so that no matter whether anybody is in the pulpit or not the sermon is being preached. It is being heard, and as long as men and women meet in this building they will see and hear the sermon which for some 50 years we have been attempting to write in this church. It’s not always easy to read and it’s not always perfect.

We begin with the communion table. It’s long, made of solid walnut, and it’s not just a piece of furniture. There are many who have misgivings about the communion service itself, that the phrases belong to another era–drinking the blood, taking the cup, eating the bread and the body–that these do not speak to our time. But this table represents a need, the basic need of the church to gather together about this table once a year, once a month, because it is the table at which we hep each other to be honest. Here, by our coming together around this table, we are confronted by the gathered church, by the judgment of each of us, by the forgiveness of each of us, and by the love of God, and as I said to the official family of the church, if I had one text to throw at you it would be, Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. It will be very easy for this church to disintegrate in terms of attendance during the summer months. The pall, the uncertainty, may stretch into a year or two years. But we must come together, and this table stands as that great message of the church that it must gather in the name of Christ about the table.

A second object that is not furniture either is the pulpit itself. This pulpit has been a very wonderful pulpit for me. I suppose I could say I cut my teeth on it. When I preached my first sermon here I was frightened to death of two sermons a Sunday, wondering how I could go on for a year. The thing that I like about the pulpit is that with only one exception, an exception I have told you about before, I have never been throttled. Nobody has ever told me what to say or what not to say. This has been a free pulpit. And I did not make it free. You made it free. The minister who comes needs the same kind of freedom from this pulpit.

Whether there is somebody standing in this pulpit or not, it is speaking tremendous words, not only the words of the Bible but the words of life, the word of God ministered through the voice of a minister, the words of love and compassion and comfort to people who are in trouble, the fearless words of prophecy concerning the times in which we live, the sins of our age, the sins of our society, its greed and political manipulations and all the things that destroy the society in which we live. This needs to be kept the free pulpit and I hope that there will not be a committee, nor a board, nor a group that will ever stop a man from speaking the truth as he sees it from this pulpit, that it shall always be free, that there shall be no littleness in it, that even the words of denominationalism shall never muzzle a man. We have entered into a day far beyond any little denominational loyalty. Whether we are Baptists, or Methodists, or Presbyterians, or even Christians is immaterial. Most of the denominations have accepted the distinctive contributions of the Baptists to the Christian reformation of the Protestants. Even the Catholics have accepted many things which we taught for years. We are coming into a period when that particular label can be more of a stumbling block than anything else. From this pulpit we ought to hear the word of God without its being trimmed to suit any small denomination, whether it’s the Baptist denomination or some other. This pulpit is beyond that. But above all, whenever you see this pulpit with the sword on the front of it–I came not to bring peace but a sword—remember that the word of truth spoken freely from the pulpit is as a sword dividing us one from another at the same time that it brings the great messages of love and hope and faith and justice.

Add to these two pieces of the sermon the two offering stones which we placed here. As some of you may or may not know, we had a problem what to do with the offering. It could be brought up and presented to the ministers and they could place it on the communion table. We felt that was not the place for the offering. The ushers could place it under the cross, or over here at the pulpit, but these places seemed a little too obvious. And so we made these two fine offering stones. We had never seen offering stones in anybody’s church before, but there is an inscription on these two stones which carries a very real and vital message, and this is the message of the offering. It’s not Freely ye have received, freely give. It is simply stated. First be reconciled to your brother.I will never forget a particular funeral service in this church when a brother who had not been reconciled sat squarely in front of that one stone and stared at it during the service. First be reconciled to your brother–there is no other way to worship in this church. I hope there never will be another way. First be reconciled to your children; first be reconciled to your wife or your husband; first be reconciled to those who are different from you, other races, other nations. First be reconciled, and if you are not reconciled, keep your money in your pocket. Do not give it until you have made that pilgrimage of reconciliation in your life, because if you do not do it then everything you do for the church really turns to ashes. The other stone has the remaining words of the text: then come and offer your gift. These stones we mean to preach the third point of the sermon over and over and over again so no one forgets it, that this is the way we have to worship.

Over to my left are the flowers. Three men of our church who have constructed various things for us built this place for flowers–I want to call it an altar. They completed it yesterday. I think the flowers in the church need to stand not only as something beautiful which is here today and gone tomorrow, which is very fragile the way life is fragile, but they need to say to us, “Here is something you cannot make with all your plastics and all your arts and all your skills.” You cannot make these flowers. At least, if you make the in imitation they cannot reproduce themselves; they do not have the seeds of life within them as these do. I want the fowers to say, “Here is a spot of beauty, something you cannot buy, something you cannot package, something you cannot haul away in a truck. A million dollars will not really buy it if you do not have the eye for it.” And the church needs to constantly say to the world, “There is something in this world that’s more than money.” We are living in a very materialistic period. I think it is all around us, but our particular society has outdone almost all other societies in its ability to give material goods to the great masses of our people. Many of us have become obsessed by them, enslaved by our cars and our houses and everything else. The church always calls us back, to this gift of beauty in the flowers.

To my right are the plantings, the green plantings which have been with us from the very beginning of this new building. I am always amazed when people go through the building–how they must go up to the plants and feel them to see whether they are real or not. I hope they will never discover they are not real. They are real! And they represent the whole celebration of life which is the worship service itself. They represent the growing edge–all those leaves as they come out month after month. There is growth here, there is life here. The plantings to the right have a minimum of sunlight and yet they survive, and I hope they speak to everyone who is struggling with his life, with darkness in life, saying that you, too, can survive, that you can reach for light, and that there is to your life and to the life of this church an edge which is always growing and always changing. And if this change which is coming to all of us us next Sunday has something to say to us, let it say that this is the condition of being alive, that you have to change, that you cannot always have it the way it was, that you have to tell it the way it is, and you have to live it the way it is, that there must be a growing edge and when the growing edge is gone, death is there.

Then there are the words inscribed over the chancel: One is your master, the Christ, and you are all brothers. I have preached on these words on several occasions. We chose these words with care. They speak to the whole question of differences and poverty and trouble. One is your master, the Christ, and you are all brothers. It was Harrington who first made us aware how poor people are, how many millions of poor starving people there are within the borders of the United States. A church like this, sitting on a little knoll on the south side of Third Street, can beome a sort of gem, a little architectural thing which you look at, you carry around on a pillow. If it does, it’s lost its real reason for being. Its real reason for being is to reach out to wherever there is need, human need and poverty, and if we stop reaching out to the poor, this church will lose its reason for existence. This church is not just a sounding board for preachers. This is not a preaching station. This is a congregation of men and women who have committed themselves as a community and who are concerned for the poor, and if we ever stop being truly concerned, individually, and corporately as a congregation, we will have missed what we are here for as the followers of Christ. The poor heard Him gladly. The poor are not sitting in our congregation, in our pews–they may never sit in our pews. Our class consciousness may make it too uncomfortable for them to be part of this church, but it should never be said that we do not in this church reach out with money, with compassion, with love, with our ministers, with our people, to anyone in need; that we ever deny that the need exists. We are tackling poverty as poverty has never been tackled before in the history of the world. We have made many mistakes. There are many things we do not know about how to meet poverty, but we are at least trying and this church is trying, and I hope it keeps on.

The last place is the cross, which as you know is made of African mahogany, bound with black steel, prophetically speaking to the crisis of the races. My own opinion is that this particular symbol–not only because of its history in the Christian Church as a cross of suffering and love, redemption and reconciliation–speaks to our time and it will speak to this church for the next fifty years of a problem, a white problem, a black problem, which is not going to go away. Many of you are tired of picking up your newspapers every day and reading one to ten or twenty stories about the race question. If I hear one criticism more than any other about the minister, it is that I have been hitting you over the head with the question of the race problem. I haven’t meant to do it, but I think that no matter if we are black or white this is the point at which whether or not we are Christian is tested by fire. The tests up to now have been simple tests, not very difficult. For twenty years we have had people of other races as members of this church, members of our boards, officers in the church; these are comparatively simple things. They stand merely as a sort of symbol to the world that this church has been alive for the past twenty years on this particular question. We have done many other things about it, but the worst is yet to come. With people buying guns, stockpiling food in their houses, with the polarization of the whites on one side, and the blacks on the other, we have no idea what is ahead of us.

On the boardwalk of Coney Island I talked to a man who was a Jew who had a souvenir store, souvenirs which sold for 50 cents or a dollar and which were probably worth two cents or a nickel. He had been on the boardwalk for over 20 years. Coney Island has changed since the fire, and this man said to me, “Were you here Easter? Do you know about Easter??” I said, “No, I am from Indiana,” and he said, “If you are from Indiana you don’t know anything about the problem.” I said “Well, I was born in New York and grew up in New York, and I think I know something about the problem.” He said, “Well, Easter Sunday, a hundred or two hundred thousand Negroes came to Coney Island and they filled our stores. They said terrible things to our women. I closed the store at four o’clock in the afternoon. I was frightened. I didn’t know what to do. I’m really a liberal. I’m a Roosevelt liberal. I’m a liberal from way back. I’m a Jewish liberal. But if you would hand me a crd today to sign to join the Ku Klux Klan, I’d join it.” And that is about the most frightening thing I have heard except all the sick jokes about Martin Luther King’s death.

We have not seen what is coming. We do not know what is coming. We can hope for some unexpected twist and turn of events that may redeem us before we destroy our society, turn it into a couple of concentration camps. But it is here–and prophetically we have seen in this church that this is the place where we are going to be tested. In Bloomington I have never known so much hatred, so much prejudice against blacks as there is now. I have never before heard people speak with such feeling against them. On the other side of the fence, I have not before heard blacks speaking against whites the way they are speaking in Bloomington today. Now Bloomington is a microcosm. This is a very small segment of the problem. We may never know what will be known in Detroit, Newark, Gary, Chicago, New York, but as a Christian member of this community you cannot glibly dismiss this problem and say “I am sick of the race question.” The race question is the world’s question. It is an international question. It is part of the question in Vietnam. It is a question for all of us, and our Christianity will be tested by how well we do our homework and how much there is in us of the realism of Christ and the love and spirit of Christ.

The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the house.

—————

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

This sermon was delivered from notes rather than from a manuscript, and the text as it appears here was taken from a tape recording.

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=33322013-08-24T02:06:14Z2013-08-24T01:56:05ZIf you’ve been paying attention to the astro-weather of the past few years, you’ve heard plenty about the Uranus/Pluto squares and how these patterns are repeating themes from the 1960’s when the current cycle began. Aspect cycles begin when two planets come together (a conjunction) in the sky at the very same degree. Like a New Moon, which is when the Sun and Moon conjoin, these patterns begin a new cycle.

The cycles we saw in the 1960’s included a huge shift in the how society saw its relationship and responsibilities African Americans in our civil discourse. The dark American history of enslavement resulted in a culture that put huge barriers before people of color attempting to participate in the civil life of our country. The civil rights movements of the ’60s resulted in a series of laws that prohibited different treatment of individuals based on the color of their skin.

Also in the 1960’s we had the frightening overreach of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI; the controversially released Pentagon Papers exposing the machinations behind the Vietnam War; an increasing awareness of the gap between rich and poor Americans. These are all themes we are seeing repeated–in the Chelsea Manning war whistleblowing, the Edgar Snowdon NSA spying papers release, the huge and growing gap between the rich and poor in this country… and in the horrifying murder and subsequent verdict in the case of Trayvon Martin, coupled with huge roll-backs in civil rights protections for voters.

This was brought home to me personally when I visited Mom this summer. She handed me a booklet which contained the last sermon of the minister I grew up with, and the memorial service sermon after his death. These events took place in May and July of 1968, and both speeches specifically addressed the issues of OUR times. Referring to the racial unrest of the 1960’s, Doug Rae (1908-1968) pointed out that the cross in the church, hanging above the words “One is the Master, the Christ, and you are all brothers” was made of African Mahogony and bound with black steel. He said “This particular symbol….. will speak to [us] for the next fifty years of a problem… which is not going to go away.”

Today, despite (or perhaps because of) having the first African American President of the United States, a virulent racism is again erupting in the public and private arenas of this land. Frankly, I see it as the last of the roaches coming out from behind the woodwork after the exterminator leaves, but the effect of this ugliness is just as horrible for the individuals and families affected. And the result is that we all can see clearly that 47 years after that sermon was given, we have still not resolved the issue.

Astrology tell me that we will come closer–closer to closure, understanding, and learning how to live with all of these issues. And astrology tells me that 2013 is one of the big turning points in these struggles for fairness and justice.

The next article will address the factors that make this year–even what’s left of it–so important to these issues. But first, I wish to stress the underpinnings of my beliefs.

Dr. Rae was a Baptist minister in a college town in Indiana. It was his only ministry, and it lasted exactly 33 years. He didn’t preach dogma: he preached caring action. I grew from every sermon he preached, but I didn’t learn much about traditional Christian faith. When I was 16, I got up the nerve to ask him if he believed in God, and if so, what is it?? He paused a moment and replied “The closest understanding I have of God……is what Albert Schweitzer called ‘reverence for life’.” I looked up the quote later. It is: ”

I can do no other than be reverent before everything that is called life.” This seems as good a guiding principle as any, to me.(Note: Texts of Doug Rae’s Memorial Service and last sermon are reproduced in the blog. Go to the home page to see the blog titles.)

There’s no question at this point that the world is in a process of change. Whether we’re talking about droughts, floods and epic storms, or the increasing distance between government and the people, or the over-reaching powers of corporations who seem to be buying laws that benefit them and squelching laws that help individual citizens, we can see that things are out of balance. More than that, they’re in the process of change.

In most periods of personal change, our nostalgic desire is things to “go back” to how they used to be. However, I’ve never seen this wish fulfilled. As the patterns in the world around us change, our wish for things to “go back to how they were” is a dim hope, indeed. What we need to recognize is that change is a process of growth and evolution, and can only move us forward. Birth is a messy and painful process, but each one of us must experience it.

a. Mutating Sri-Yantra
We’ve got some help this year. Between July 20 and 30th, we will experience the development of an extremely rare Star-of-David, or Sri Yantra, pattern in the sky. This means that one planet will be at each point of a six-pointed star pattern. On the 24th, all but one of these planets are “traditional” planets, meaning planets from Saturn inward. The only “modern planet” filling one of the points is Pluto, and therein lies a tale. The ancient planets, bound by the physical world materiality of Saturn, delineates events in the physical world of things and action, and not just in our perception of things. But Pluto in Capricorn (still squaring Uranus) speaks to a profound death/rebirth process on the perceptual level. This is about our personal responses to the perception of dramatic change..

On a global basis, I don’t expect this to produce a singular breakthrough of any kind. My teacher used to remind me that the world as a whole cannot advance to a level higher than reached by the vast majority of its citizens. But what we DO get at this time is an opportunity for enlightened action on an individual level. Enlightened because of the balancing effect of the two entwined triangles, and action because the traditional planets have to the world under the limits of Saturn: physical, material, bricks-and-mortar reality. This action is likely to be impelled by one’s awareness of potentially catastrophic change. If you have planets near 3-10 degrees of water and earth signs (representing our ability to RESPOND to situations) you will be profoundly assisted by this pattern.

b. Uranus Pluto squares.
November of this year will deliver the 4th and 5th of the seven exact Uranus/Pluto squares that occur between 2012 and 2015. This year is the turning point, and I do expect some large system failures at this point. This is a good thing. To the extent that we anticipate changes and prepare for them we are easing the birth of the new, which is caused by the destruction of the outmoded. Pluto challenges us to the exact degree that we hold on to outgrown concepts. Start now to examine what is no longer working, both in your personal world and in the world around you. What alternatives can you introduce? How can you prepare for the better future? We’ll talk more about this in the months ahead!

Years ago, I’d occasionally find myself in a position where someone would push a chart into my hands and ask “What do you see?” … Well, I’d be flummoxed. I’d see squiggles and lines and hopes and expectations on the person’s face–and go totally blank. It all looked like gobbledygook to me. It took me years –and a similar confession of the same reaction from astrologer Rick Levine who’s a personal hero of mine, to realize WHY this was true.

Why?? Because a chart doesn’t TELL us anything. Nothing at all. First of all, there’s no way to “see” if the chart is a human being, a dog, a building, or a chicken. Given that level of ignorance it almost goes without saying that we can’t detect the “soul level” of the being represented by the chart. The chart doesn’t “tell us” ANYTHING! We have to ASK.

A chart might be simply a moment in time. Every moment in time has an astrological signature. The issue is that no chart has MEANING without CONTEXT. That’s where the intimate and intricate dance between astrologer and client begins–in creating the context.

Along the way, I also discovered that “gift-readings” were often sadly empty, offering little to the gifted client but the satisfaction (or not) of mild curiosity. What is the CONTEXT? What is the issue to explore? Like you, most likely, I’ve wondered why there’s such a difference between the readings of different astrologers. I mean beyond the issue of skill and competence in the astrological language.

After pondering these questions for a long time I finally realized the explanation to all these issues was the same. The astrological chart tells us nothing until we engage with it by asking QUESTIONS. Without the question, there’s not an answer.

Astrologers, by nature, are fascinated by the variety of ways people meet their lives. As a result, each astrologer has areas of curiosity that become implicit questions. When I read a chart, I’m curious about the psycho-spiritual growth and development of the person, what prompted their growth, how they’ve handled crises in the past, what innate resources they may be under-utilizing in dealing with the present. I’m also curious about timing when challenges arise and detecting the best way to meet those challenges for peace and personal growth.

I remember going to the “vacation home” of a referral client. Located in one of the most exclusive spa resorts in the country this person clearly had a lot of money if this was her fourth home. I correctly identified that she married and divorced within six months when she was “barely legal”. I assumed this kind of issue would create an internal crisis that would precipitate a growing period. She looked at me blankly. I could see great generosity flowing to her from people who could be seen as teachers or spiritual mentors. She agreed that generosity came to her from a man who married her, at her father’s request, solely to provide her with money, but blanked out on learning from him. I went through her chart crossing out all my assumptions as she showed them to be faulty. I was looking for what gave meaning and purpose for her life and it turned out she wasn’t looking for meaning or purpose! With what was left, and without any sense of irony, I finally said. “It looks like you’re here on earth to enjoy life, go to parties (yes, that was there), and have a good time!” Her face lit up! “That’s it exactly!,” she beamed.

It’s also hard to read charts for ourselves or for people we’re close–because we don’t ask the right questions. We think we know the person and fail to ask the obvious questions. When we’re in love we don’t ask “will my instinctive way of approaching new situations clash with his?” (hard aspects between Moons or Ascendants will trump whatever sweet conjunctions may be there) or “Will what I don’t know about this person hurt me? (Do any of their planets fall in your 12th house? How do those planets aspect your chart points?)

As I think about Questions, I realize that asking the right question is an art. My sister can meet a person and instantly ask a dozen questions that bring that person into a stimulating conversation. When looking at life itself, we all ask different questions, and the questions we ask of life are important. We get answers that relate to our questions. We don’t get answers that don’t relate to our questions. I have a friend who always asks “Can I do more” in any situation. It didn’t surprise me that she hit a wall of life-changing exhaustion. I remember my mother’s implied question when I was a toddler: “What amazing thing is this child going to do next?” I thank her for this. My life is a lot more interesting that it might have been had my mother asked “What trouble is this kid getting into now?” A doctor who asks the right questions will make better diagnoses. A teacher who asks the right questions can stimulate learning. What questions do you ask of life?

As a practicing astrologer, not only do I bring my questions to a chart… I also look for questions my client brings to me–which finally gave me the answer to those who hand me a chart and expect me to say something. Now I take a guess at a question. Maybe it’s “Surprise me!” “Tell me something about me that I haven’t thought of.” Or, if I notice their planets involved with slow-moving transits “Why is my life going crazy at this moment?–and how long will it last?”

Well, first there was that week in February... when a meteor exploded over Russia (and hit ground, too), and a comet (or asteroid, depending on the report) passed INSIDE the orbit of the the Moon, and the Pope resigned on the same day that lightning struck St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican…. Those were symbolically huge events and in other years might have stood out as highlights, but so much more has happened this year that they recede into the background. My pre-2013 notes were unclear. Words for early February included changes of power and authority figures, long time associations, and big-money and power plays. Then Mercury went retrograde on February 23rd, which combined with the Pisces energy of February and March made much of the next month’s news illusory at best.

In March North Korea scared much of the world by declaring that the truce with South Korea (and the USA) from the 1950’s Korean War is now over, and they’re getting ready to launch nuclear weapons at the US. Remember that the tropical zodiac had a huge stellium (clustering) of planets in Pisces–typically connected with illusions, delusions and lies. Sidereally this cluster was in Aquarius, indicating North Korea’s status as a rebel against the rest of the world. Nevertheless, the warning was delivered and received. Pisces is also related to contagion, and China brought us news of the first deaths from a new avian flu, along with the bizarre news of 12,000 dead pigs found in Shanghai’s water supply, the Huangpu River; and 1000 dead ducks in Sichuan’s Nanhe River.

Also in March, the Vatican selected a new pope: Pope Francis is the first Jesuit and the first Pope from the Americas. Though he is conservative on much church doctrine, his care for ordinary people is unprecedented. In my notes for 2013, I marked March 17 as a day with world healing energy. Turns out this was the day Pope Francis made his first speech as pope.

Mid March, Mercury went direct (the 17th) and we not only had a clustering of planets, but the Sun and Mars were in a very long dance together, with the entire bundle moving, at month’s end, into abrupt, aggressive Aries and building into conjunction with explosive Uranus and a square to death-related Pluto.

Which brings us to April: For the week of the 15th my notes said “Rage, danger; surprises, shocks.” The Boston Marathon bombings, the fertilizer factor explosion that devastated the town of West, Texas near Waco, and the ricin letters sent to politicians all took place in that week. The culprit was the Sun with Mars and Uranus, squaring Pluto–along with a bundle of other planets in impatient and angry Aries. Uranus and Mars are a formula for explosions, and putting them both in Aries just makes it all bigger. The twice-yearly “eclipse season” also began in late April, with a Lunar eclipse in early Scorpio on the 23rd. Fairly close to Saturn, this tamped down subterranean anger which we may yet see explode on the larger scene.

I’d thought the Solar Eclipse of May 9 would give us another eruption of anger. Taking place in mid Taurus, the Moon’s exaltation here may have softened the blow, but my notes bring more shocks thru the 13th and a strong likelihood of major flooding between the 14th and the end of June. There’s cause for optimism around the 27th of May… and I’ll round out the year in the next newsletter.

BTW, Kudos go to Naomi Bennet, astrologer from Austin, who predicted amazingly high stock market numbers for this spring. Indeed, the Dow Jones has reached and is holding its highest numbers EVER right now.

In antiquity, astrology was about predicting future possibilities—and preventing them from playing out, if they didn’t look good. The ancient Babylonians were masters at this, and in India to this day, practices are prescribed to eliminate or reduce the materialization of negative karma. For the most part, modern Western astrologers have forgotten how to do this—but Anne Beversdorf’s new book may change all that.

To understand how this astrological methodology works, remember that the ancients viewed the universe not as completely material but as deeply rooted in spirit. They believed that the cosmos has a powerful subconscious mind, much like our own, but existing on a truly vast scale. If you understand the connections between the archetypes in this universal consciousness, you could reshape reality on a subtle level. This spiritual science was the basis of magic and of the astrological prescriptions still used in Vedic astrology.

In this stunningly brilliant book, Beversdorf shows how you can design your own astrological prescriptions, based on these ancient principles, “to help you improve life’s good stuff and reduce the messes.” What makes Vedic Secrets to Happiness so remarkable is that you don’t have to be a Vedic astrologer to experiment with these techniques. In fact, you don’t even have to know your own horoscope! Beversdorf teaches you how to diagnose the karmic imbalances playing out in your life, how they relate to planetary archetypes, and how to heal them through the heartfelt performance of appropriate actions, rituals, or prayers. If you’re an astrologer—Vedic or Western—there’s also advice on how to trace the real-life imbalances in your natal chart.

Beversdorf brings back the practical dimension to Western astrology, reinitiating modern practitioners into astrological remedies that are based on insights and techniques preserved in India. Whether you’ve been reading charts your whole life or are a complete beginner, there’s a treasure trove of eminently useful astrological lore here.

Anne Beversdorf has taught at Indiana and San Diego State Universities, and owned an educational software company. She practices both Vedic and Western astrology in the Texas Hill Country. Vedic Secrets to Happiness is one of the most exciting astrology books I’ve seen in years. It could revolutionize the way astrology is practiced in the West by returning it to its ancient roots.

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=29782012-10-13T01:04:18Z2012-10-13T01:04:18ZThis annual conference has an uncanny ability to set a theme that the universe conspires to follow in the entire two-day meeting. The presenter and attendants all seem to leave ego issues at home, and the result is an intimate group who participates together in a beautiful growth experience.

I gave a lecture in two parts: The first was Embracing Self, and the second wasRemoving Impediments.

]]>0adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=29572012-10-02T03:36:24Z2012-10-02T03:36:24ZWell, Almost mainstream. It’s a popular web site, and the article features a dear friend and colleague of mine as the referenced astrologer: Deborah Parker.

]]>2adminhttp://www.stariel.comhttp://www.stariel.com/?p=29462012-09-23T22:37:07Z2012-09-23T22:37:07ZHere’s another wonderful IONS/Austin lecture, this one by Sharon Lanier, a certified HeartMath trainer and counselor. HeartMath is a brilliant scientific system that demonstrates how having a “coherent” state of mind (coherence is defined by a heart graph showing a smooth sine wave) improves health, happiness, and quality of life. It also teaches us how to reach that state of mind. Here’s the lecture

It’s here–the second exact (degree, minute, second) square of Uranus and Pluto. It’s this month. There’s no point in telling you the exact day (it’s the 19th), as the degrees will be square all month, creating frustration, the need for freedom, being faced with implacable power or events we can’t control. Expect sudden breakouts and breakthroughs, including earthquakes, explosions of anger, and possibly violence on the world scene. This is the second of seven exact squares we’ll experience through 2015. The relief of long-desired changes won’t really show up til after that.On the local front, we’ve got four news items to share here.1. An interview with me from Chuck and Karen Robison of What If It Really Works. As usual, their questions are probing and demanding. Yes, it’s about my new book, Vedic Secrets to Happiness. While you’re there DO NOT MISS their amazing interviews with Bruce Lipton, Joseph Chilton Pierce, John Huston, Dean Radin, the producers of the movie Thrive, and other amazing, brilliant and creative thinkers.

2. Art Show opening. The Diocese of Austin will have a party on Sept. 13, but the show will be up til February. I have several tapestries in this show that represent the visions of Hildegard of Bingen (who was recently canonized by the Catholic Church and will become the 34th person EVER given the title “Doctor of the Church” this October).

3. Great Esoteric Conference in CA. I’ll be speaking. You are invited!

This is a BIG year for Hildegard of Bingen. She was canonized this May, and in Oct she will be the 34th person EVER to be named “Doctor of The Church”. I have 5 works in this show, and 4 of them were inspired by Hildegard’s Visions. The one here is “Souls Rise and Fall (as Stars)”.
If you’re near Austin, I hope you can come!

I’ll be one of the featured speakers at this conference and would love to see you.

The conference includes vegetarian meals, lectures and mini-lectures, music, nature walks, sacred fires, workshops and an intimate connection with others in the amazing sacred space of Prayers for Peace Park in Pamoosa Valley.

For more information or to register, contact the Essene Retreat; 760 749 9344, or 760 749 3489.

4. What People are Saying, OR Sweet Words about Anne.“Anne’s knowledge and integration of several systems of astrology create a great foundation for accessing life processes and decision making. Her use of metaphorical stories intertwined with practical implications make a great addition to the written materials she also provides for your later study. Professionalism abounds and she can tailor a suitable reading for you with all her resources. Highly, highly recommend Anne.” Susan Reynolds, June 26, 2012

5. William’s Smiles

This September I was able to travel to Missouri to see my new nephew for the first time. Here’s what I found when I got there:

This is the baby who was born at 4 months last January, weighing barely over a pound. He’s doing great–and I enjoyed the smiles and his newly developed Babbling! Thanks, Dave and Shelley!

8. Audio Mantras –Now available on my website!I’ve finally recorded and uploaded a series of Mantras to my web site. If you are interested in astrological remedies, you can find planetary mantras at my website under “Astro-Remedies” and then selecting the planet whose mantra you’re seeking. A full page of long mantra links can be found HERE. Words are included.My most-frequently used mantra is the Mrityunjaya Mantra. You can listen to it, and to any of the others at the link above. Thank you, Ricia Doren, for the Ganapati Mantra audio!

When our life is off-balance, we forget our goals. From improving moods to saving the life of a micro-preemie baby, these remedies can apply to any area of life. Learn how in Vedic Secrets to Happiness. (Click here to read more.)

300 pages of examples, self-assessment tools, detailed activity sheets and index to help you get started immediately. RETAIL: $22.95 ($18.95 with discount)